Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, all!

WG picked out her pumpkin when Grandma G (aka my mom) was here this past week. And again she has vetoed carving it. If you remember, WG has a love affair going with squash. "Lumpy Pumpkin" is safe and sound in our house. Last year's pumpkin stuck around for the Christmas pictures before he got soft and "ran away." We'll see how long Lumpy sticks around. I did just read an article on how great homemade pumpkin puree is and WG is in school every morning......

WG is dressing as a dinosaur again this year. That is, WG will dress as a dinosaur IF we can convince her to put the costume on. WG has a very fertile imagination these days and she thinks that if she dresses as a dinosaur she will turn into a dinosaur. Personally, I think that would be a handy thing to be able to do, but the idea freaks WG out. When I asked her to try the costume on a few days ago she started sobbing and said, "But I don't want to be a dinosaur, I want to be WG!" I had to smile at this because I had completely forgotten that not too long ago if we asked her if she was happy or sad or angry she would answer, "I'm not happy, I'm WG! Don't call me happy!" She did eventually put the costume on for a few minutes. She also wore it to school yesterday for the Halloween parade. Still, she has her reservations about the whole thing. We'll see.

We also got the proofs for school pictures back today. They had two shots of WG. In the first she was biting her lip. It was not a great picture. She was smiling in the second picture but there was a look on her face that is very familiar. WG started giggling when she saw that proof. I asked her if she was growling when they took the picture and she laughed harder. Poor photographer!

RIP Gordon

We needed a veggie for dinner. Gordon was on the counter. I looked at him, he tried to run, but as he IS a squash he didn't get very far. He was delicious.

WG did not completely freak out but she wouldn't eat him either. I guess I can understand that.

Squash the fourth

The halloween pumpkin (which was in the Christmas pictures with WG under the tree) "ran away" sometime in January. In reality, it froze, then thawed, and was disturbingly squishy so Tim disposed of it. We have been squash free since then until yesterday. WG came grocery shopping with me. For a treat, I had told her before going into the store that she could pick out a new vegetable to try. Of course I meant to eat, but silly me, I didn't make that clear. We walked into the store and right at the front of the produce section was a big beautiful display of squash. There were butternuts and crooknecks and acorns and spaghetti squash. WG was in heaven. She picked out a small orange acorn squash. I told her that if we bought it then we'd have to eat it. She just smiled and nodded. So we got that one and another larger acorn squash.

I should have figured out that there would be trouble when she wouldn't put the squash in the cart, prefering to cradle it in her arms while we went through the rest of the store. We got home and WG snatched her "new baby pumpkin" out of the bag and took it into the living room to play. She stopped long enough to peel off and give me the sticker that had cooking directions on it. I started reading the cooking directions out loud:
(me)"Preheat oven to 350. Cut squash in half and take out the seeds"
(WG)"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
(me)"place cut side down in a buttered pan..."
(WG)"AAAAHHHH!!! DON'T EAT MY BABY PUMPKIN!!!!!"
(me)"cook until tender"
(tim)"Oh! You got squash?! I love squash! I'm going to eat that squash with butter and brown sugar!"
(WG)"NOOOOOOO!!!!"
a few minutes later
(WG)"Mom, can you sew my squash a dragon costume? He wants to dress up."

We did not eat the squash. In fact, she took it to bed with her last night. She has named it Gordon. (Aw, I think it's her first pun....) Today WG and Gordon have watched Dora the Explorer (Gordon's request), done puzzles, eaten lunch...... It could be worse, I guess. A good friend pointed out that WG could be obsessed with zuchini. Acorn squash last longer before getting soft, at least.