This evening I decided that I wanted to get the seeds out of the pumpkins. We never did get them carved in time for Halloween, but I really wanted to at least bake the seeds. I thought it’d be a fun activity for you to help me with. I laid out plastic on the ground, your dad cut off the tops, and I sat you down with the two pumpkins and a couple of spoons. I thought you’d dive right in with your hands, but you were more intrigued by the pumpkin tops, and even tried multiple times to eat the spiky stem! After a little while you reached into the bowl containing the seeds, touched them, immediately pulled your hands away and with wide eyes, just stared at them in surprise at their cold sticky texture. After a few seconds you dove back in with much less trepidation, and continued to play and try to eat them for awhile.

Whoa, what is this?!

Pumpkin seed mess

Trying a taste of the pumpkin stem

AFter this adventure you were a mess and needed a bath. Bath time has continually become more and more chaotic in proportion with you becoming more and more active and mobile. It’s a stressful, painful time where your dad or I lean precariously over the tub for the entire event, constantly keeping our hands hovering around you and ready to catch you the instant you try to stand. Long gone are the days where you just sit placidly and let us wash you down. By the end of every bath my knees and back ache, I’m all wet, and I’m exhausted; you, however, seem all wound up and more riled up than when we began.

Tonight I decided to try a new approach and I climbed in the tub with you. I was able to sandwich you in my legs, which mostly enabled me to keep you sitting and upright with much less effort than is possible when I’m outside the tub. And this new method has the added benefit of me getting to take a bath, to sit back and enjoy the time with you rather than wrangling you the whole time, and I even got to relax and enjoy a beer while you safely played. I think we’ve definitely found our new bathing style.