Meet our new temporary pet...

ELEPHANT PUMPKIN!

Sawyer's daycare does not let the kids dress up for Halloween (which was great since he wanted no part in dressing up this year), but they did hold a pumpkin decorating contest this year. They sent home a note saying that the pumpkins would be judged in 4 or 5 categories, Best in Show being the top prize. They also reminded parents that this was the CHILD's project, not the parents. Good thing I was reminded! But, honestly, how much can a 1 or 2 year old do on their own?

So, I put on my thinking cap, and came up with the above. Sawyer is VERY into elephants these days. Loves to visit them at the zoo, asks to wear his elephant shirt every freakin day, and carries around his toy elephant family. He is a wee bit obsessed. I suggested making an elephant pumpkin to Saw, and he was into it. We sent Daddy out to find a pumpkin with the longest stem he could while Sawyer and I were in IL. I had seen a nursery on my way home from work that had rows of long stemmed pumpkins in front, so that is where he went. On Monday, after we got home, Sawyer and I painted it. He did most of the painting himself (I should have taken photos to prove it, but I was too busy wiping up paint that he was flinging all over the floors and walls). While we waited for it to dry, I cut out some ears, but Mr. Man decided to raid my scrapbook supplies and he decided that puffballs should go in the ears. SURE...why not? :) We then glued on his eyes, stuck his ears in with some popsicle sticks, and declared him finished. Except...the whole night, he kept saying "he's sad. the elephant's sad. he's crying" I would ask him why he thought that, and he would just repeat it. After he went to bed, I decided to give the elephant a mouth, thinking that would solve the sad problem. It did. The next morning he said:
"he's sa.....OH....he's HAPPY!!!!"

Cool.

So at 4:30pm on Halloween, I get a call from G:

me "hello"
g "so you and your son have something else in common"
me "what"
g "his pumpkin won best in show out of the ENTIRE daycare...all of them up to age 6"

:)

my little overachiever. I'm so proud!

They gave him a medal (see the second picture) and a prize bag with another elephant, a hotwheels car, a pumpkin flashlight, and some other little things. He was SO PROUD. Look at that face :D

and that hair. My little hippie. I am thinking about getting some of the hair cut tomorrow. It is in his eyes, and I think it is driving him crazy. Wish us luck. The last time, he screamed so much that it wasn't a haircut as much as a hair drive by cutting. I had to basically give him a start to finish haircut at home...and my friends, I am not a hairdresser.

Happy Weekend!!