No sword to the gourd- October 3, 2012

This is Charlotte’s pumpkin. She is quite proud of it. She should be considering the epic toddler tantrum we endured to get it home. She says “My punkin!” whenever she sees it and “Bye-bye punkin!” while waving at our front stoop each morning. You can count on her announcing, “My punkin!” once more when we get home. She even showed it to Grandma via Facetime by using it as a chair. I figure if I were 22 lbs. I would think a pumpkin would be a great chair too.

As parents we are thrilled that she loved this gourd so much and we were hopeful this would mean she would be interested in some different fall foods this year. Every autumn I make Rachael Ray’s Pumpkin Sausage Pasta. Ya’ll, this stuff is amazeballs! It is perfect for nights when the weather starts getting cooler. Greyson always wanders up to the stove to smell the pot. I can always count on extra kitchen kisses and complements on my cooking. We couldn’t wait to share this recipe with our girl.

www.foodnetwork.comI cut up her serving in small bites and gave her a little extra parmesan cheese. She was skeptical when we sat her in the high chair, but she did warm up when she saw that her meal was being served on an Elmo plate. We sat at the table, said the blessing and started eating. We could tell Charlotte would need a little coaxing.

That’s when we said it.

“It’s pumpkin pasta! It’s made with pumpkin! Yummy!”

We might as well have stabbed Elmo right in front of her. Her lip trembled, and she screamed “No! My punkin!”

Oops.

We assured her that her pumpkin was still in tact. Greyson went outside to the front step and brought it in to show her. We may not make jack-o-lanterns this Halloween. I’ll leave the pumpkin out through Thanksgiving, but when Christmas decorations go up it has to go.

Who am I kidding? Any bets on if I’ll have garland around that “punkin?”