This year, I tried my first attempt at carving a pumpkin. I know, I know… you’re thinking how I haven’t lived if I haven’t ever carved a pumpkin. Well, my family didn’t celebrate Halloween. And while I do NOT want this to get into a debate on whether or not Christians should participate in Halloween (I could point you to many other blogs for that argument), my husband and I feel that there is an element of innocent fun that we enjoy participating in with our son.
So here’s my first-ever pumpkin! (If you don’t recognize the TARDIS when you see it – or you don’t know what it is – then you are not geeky enough to be my friend. 🙂 haha!)
While I was carving my (extremely geeky) design, I got an idea. As I scooped out those gooey, slimy insides, I thought, “My son would love this!” Now, granted, Munchkin is only 16 months old, so I’m not going to hand him pumpkin carving tools and tell him to get after it. However, he is a boy who loves all things dirt, water, and ickyness – so I knew he’d enjoy playing in the pumpkin guts!
All I did was undress him, put him in the bathtub, and dump the pumpkin guts (seeds and all!) in front of him. It’s all completely edible and safe, and he had a blast! (Note: I did turn on the heater in the bathroom occasionally so he wouldn’t get too cold.) Below are some pictures of our slimy fun!
I loved how he started getting methodical in his play – like putting seeds in the soap dish. 🙂
As we played, we talked about the temperature and texture of the pumpkin guts. Incorporate the smell (and don’t discourage the taste!).
If we do this again, I will probably use a plastic tub instead of the bathtub. Munchkin doesn’t like the noise the faucet makes when filling the tub for a bath, but I had no way to get him away from it either.
FrankenStan 