Pumpkin Patch

We trekked over to Ekert's in Belleville on Saturday for the 2nd Annual Butter Family Pumpkin Pickin'. While it's more of a 'choosing' than a 'picking' it's still worth the drive.

Eliot enjoyed the tractor ride out to the patch and went right to work inspecting all the pumpkins. He was really disturbed, however, by pumpkins that had been smooshed, smashed, or otherwise damaged. Every time we passed a broken, rotting pumpkin corpse he'd make this new fake crying sound to indicate his worry and sadness over the tragedy. Unfortunately, there had apparently been a pumpkin battle earlier in the morning, because the field was littered with casualties, so we spent a lot of time reassuring him that those pumpkins would be returned to the earth from whence they came.

Avert your eyes from this most gruesome scene!

In addition to his fear of (or concern for?) broken pumpkins, Eliot was also very disturbed by a Halloween witch doll on a broom in the gift shop. He kept pointing to it and saying, "Doll...broom" and then doing that strange fake crying sound. I will try and capture it on audio for your listening pleasure. He is still talking about that damned doll. We keep reassuring him that the doll is a) not harmful b) lives in another state and therefore cannot find us and c) Mommy and Daddy will protect him from her by melting her with a pail of water if need be. There is currently a ban on the word doll as it only sends him into faux hysterics (again with the fake scared noise).

The main reason we drive across state lines to buy a pumpkin we could easily get in the grocery store is to take the requisite child atop a big orange squash photo, as evidenced here:

Eliot - Age 19 months

And what a difference a year makes:

Eliot - Age 7 months

It's incredible how much he has changed in just one year. For example, he's stopped dressing so punk and started favoring a much preppier look. I mean Crocs? Really? Last year he was all, "Shoes are just trappings of the corporate machine, I'm going in my socks!" and "Anarchy!" I'm sure I could doctor that sweater up with some iron ons and a couple of giant safety pins and he'd be good to go. If only he'd let me.

Now I just have to come up with a costume (and yes, the punk thing did just occur to me, but Justin wasn't on board, so that threw that out the window). Something that layers or can easily have the arms cut off as St. Louis has been sort of sweltering for October recently. It was in the mid-80s this weekend. It's really dampening my Halloween spirit. Last year, he was a hot dog (or veggie dog, depending on what you eat) and he pretty much lost half his body weight via his sweat glands as he was wrapped in thick fleece during a similar heat wave. So, any costume suggestions (and links to how-to make or buy) are appreciated!