Pumpkin Play

Today, I accompanied J and his kindergarten class on a field trip to the pumpkin patch.  Besides some serious hesitation before boarding the bus, a few scary light up skulls, and an encounter with a storyteller witch, it went pretty smoothly.  Most of his anxieties remained in check.

This is probably due in large part to the fact that he's been looking forward to choosing the perfect pumpkin for weeks.  But he's not necessarily looking for a potential jack-o-lantern.  His pumpkins become his best friends--at least for a little while.

He watched the field closely as we rode around it on the hay ride, searching for just the right pumpkin.  Most of them were rejected because they were smashed, or dirty, or scraped, or they had holes in them.

But finally, the moment arrived.  He caught sight of exactly the right one.  Unfortunately, he didn't choose a small pumpkin.  He chose one bigger than my head, or so he said.  His arms must have ached from dragging it all around with him, but he didn't complain, not once throughout the entire day of pumpkin play.

They were inseparable.  His pumpkin sat by him in the car.  It stared at him while he ate his lunch.  It watched over him from the front porch as he played outside.  When it accidentally rolled off the sofa, he insisted on putting an ice pack on it's bump.  I tried convincing him the bump had been there before, but he was more convinced that the ice actually made the bump smaller.  His pumpkin ALMOST got into the bath with him, but that was vetoed at the last minute by a 'mean ol' mom.'

At one point, J was lying on the floor with the pumpkin balanced on his stomach.  And was very excited to report to me that his tummy was stronger than the pumpkin because it made the pumpkin move.  Lovely.  I replied that we should go brush his teeth now so that his teeth could stay strong, too.  He replied that his teeth were already strong, stronger than concrete.  I didn't ask him how he knew that.  I didn't want to know.

The pumpkin sat quietly next to us as we read bedtime stories and then snuggled down for the night right next to his bed.  I'm hoping this new pumpkin friend can survive all of J's affection.  At least until we can carve it next week . . . IF he lets us carve this little orange friend.