The Littlest Pumpkin

Most of you, like me, probably remember trying to find the BIGGEST pumpkin to carve when you were little, or at the very least, the one with the most personality. Well, Grandma wanted Gwen to get a chance at choosing her own pumpkin for carving. So she took us down to a cute lil pumpkin store. The patch was across the street, supplying all the pumpkins for the store. But that meant the store was cute and child-friendly, just the perfect size for wandering unattached without fear of losing anybody. Gwen loved the freedom to explore.

She was excited about this maze until she realized they had put some plywood down over the hay bales to create a 'tunnel'. Then she was done.

After that distraction officially behind her, the real process of choosing her own pumpkin began. Grandma said she could pick out any she wanted.

We pointed out the huge carving pumpkins. "Oh," she said, "they're Daddy ones. But where are the baby ones?". Hmmm.

So we pointed out the pumpkins with personality. "Oh", she said, "it's squished. But where is my baby one?". Hmmm.

So we pointed out the eggshaped ones. "Oh," she said, "but where's my lil pumpkin for me?"

....Apparently, she was not interested in pie pumpkins either, calling them Mommy pumpkins. Or gourds, because they didn't look like pumpkins.

But when she found the smallest pumpkins in the whole place-- these tiny lil ghost pumpkins--it was love at first sight. She picked out the very smallest one she could find, cradled it in her hands, and cooed "Oh, here's my lil baby pumpkin! I love you so much!"

Caroline and Aunt Elise

and, no, we didn't attempt to carve it. Gwen loved her littlest pumpkin so much!