Current mood: accomplished
I don't know what it is about the need to get Mia full of pumpkin guts and seeds but I just HAD to have her go nuts with her pumpkin yet again this year. I had her clean out her own pumpkin last year but she really didn't get to dirty. This year I prepared for a disaster, and though she still needs some work on making a big mess .. she did much better.
With the help of my Dad, we prepared the kitchen table for the pumpkin mess. We laid down some plastic and dressed Mia in an old black shirt of mine. At first she really didn't know what was going on and really didn't seem interested in the pumpkin carving tradition at all ...it wasn't until Grandpa helped her along.
At first he took her pumpkin (which I already cut the top off of) and talked to it and played with a bit. Then sniffed it, then had Mia sniff it, once she did that she was all into the pumpkin and wanted to touch it and smell it some more. Eventually we got her on top of the table so she could have at it.
At first she just kept taking the top of the pumpkin off and on, she would sniff it then put it back on. I then gave her a GIANT spoon to play with and right away she knew to scoop the guts out of the pumpkin but she didn't know what to do with them afterward. So Grandpa grabbed a plate and showed her how to put the guts on the plate with the spoon. Thats all it took, soon Mia was a pro, scooping pumpkin guts from the pumpkin and piling them on the plate. She loved doing this so much she refused to do anything else. My Dad and I both wanted her to grab some guts with her hands and really experience what pumpkin carving is all about but she didn't want to. It took some coaxing, again by Grandpa, and she finally put her hand inside her pumpkin and pulled out some guts. "Ooooooh" she said and she pulled more and more out, then she started to put them back inside the pumpkin! OH NO!!! I let her though, she seemed to have fun until she realized her hand was sticky and dirty! (The thing she HATES the most) thats when all the fun ended and she insisted we "wash hands" and soon seeds went flying as she tried to shake her hand clean and later tried to get off the table!
When we couldn't entice her to play the pumpkin anymore, Grandpa took her off the table and washed her hands. Alex had woken from his nap so I had to tend to him and pumpkin carving was over.
Later I was able to actually carve faces into both her and Alex's pumpkin and she got all excited again. She kept poking the eye holds and putting her hand in the pumpkins mouth all while saying "How cuuuuuuuuuute!". She really liked her pumpkin.
Well this year went better than last year, thats for sure. She was covered in pumpkin guts a little more... I am sure next year will be worse! haha I can't wait!
