Pumpkin carving!

I'm taking a digital video editing class on Thursday nights at the Northwest Film Center downtown (and today when I reminded Rachel of this, she said sadly, "I'll miss you, Mommy." "I'll miss you too, Rachel!" I replied). Drew decided tonight was a good night to carve the pumpkin we got at the pumpkin patch last weekend.

Too bad I wasn't there to see it, but I saw the evidence when I got home: Newspaper on the kitchen table, pieces of pumpkin on the newspaper, a bowl of fresh pumpkin flesh (which presumably I will use to make pumpkin bread, which got a big thumbs-up from Drew and Rachel) and pumpkin seeds, which Drew says his mom used to toast when Richard carved the pumpkin.

Drew said he explained to Rachel what he was doing every step of the way. He said she told him what shape to the make the eyes and what kind of expression the pumpkin should have (last week she decided it should be CRANKY). She told him to add ears and eyebrows.

Result: A lit up pumpkin on the front steps when I arrived, with a candle in the center. We have the most badass pumpkin in the neighborhood. Y'all should come see it.

***

Cute Rachel sayings:

Because of the rash of the articles I've been reading lately about how unprepared Millenials are for failure out of college because they've been told all their lives how great they are, I've been careful not to tell Rachel that she's smart, but to say "wow, you must have worked/tried really hard!" when she accomplishes something. And not to overpraise her when she does things she should, like dress herself and go to the bathroom herself.

I know, it won't do a lick of good -- we're bound to screw her up in some way that we can't even think of right now -- but it makes this mom feel better. As if I need any more stress in my life.

Anyway...I told Rachel I was impressed with how hard she worked on the pumpkin and how great it looks.

"Yeah!" she agreed. "Babies can't carve pumpkins."

"You're right, Rachel," I said. "Babies definitely can't carve pumpkins."

"Mommies and Daddies need to do ALL the hard work for babies," she observed. "And they get really tired!"

Couldn't have said it better, kid.

***

Considering this above comment, this one seems strangely apropos: Yesterday as I was driving Rachel to school, I mentioned something that had her reply, "the way you did for me when I was a baby."

"Yes, Rachel," I answered.

"Mommy, I can take care of you when you're old," she said.

Stunned by her thoughtfulness (we never, ever talk about this at home,), I answered, "Yes, Rachel, I would be delighted to have you take care of me."