Kid Stuff: Pumpkin Boy

PJ was "Pumpkin Boy" from the get-go.  Two weeks before his arrival, in a fit of boredom, I donned a tube top and sweatpants and my spouse painted my stomach to look like a jack o' lantern (using orange and black Halloween grease paint).  I literally bellied up to the bar (well, the kitchen countertop), and we cropped the tube top out of the photo, so all you see is a ginormous pumpkin belly.  That photograph is in his baby book, next to the ubiquitous "first photo" taken of him by the hospital photographer.  Given that it was Halloween, we thought it appropriate to dress him in orange coveralls and a matching pumpkin hat.  Not seen in the photo:  the long john-style trapdoor in the back, labeled (appropriately enough, for an infant) "Trick or Treat."  (Gallows humor; not many treats coming out of that end, to be sure.)

Fast forward seven years.  PJ LURRRRRVES pumpkin EVERYTHING.  Coincidence?  I say nay.  Starting in early October, the fridge was stocked with pumpkin-flavored milk, and we had a carton of Dreyer's pumpkin ice cream in the freezer.  When his actual birthday arrived, he eschewed all of the vanilla and chocolate cupcake varieties at J Rae's in favor of . . . pumpkin spice. 

And then it was Thanksgiving week, and a few days before the big day PJ noted the large can that had been placed at his eye level in the pantry:

"WHOA.  MOM.  You have PUMPKIN PIE IN A CAN?!?"

Um, no - yes, I see that there's a picture of pie on the can, but the contents of the can are the contents of a pumpkin pie.  There isn't an actual pie IN THE CAN.

Harumph.  PJ thought that this was false advertising.  He brightened when I assured him that Nana would be bringing a pumpkin pie to Thanksgiving.

Later that day, acting on a tip from a Facebook friend, I bought a carton of Blue Bell's Spiced Pumpkin Pecan ice cream.  We tend to avoid Blue Bell (yes, I know that them's fightin' words in Tejas), because Dreyer's has less fat and calories.  But Facebook Friend said that the Blue Bell pecan variant was the bomb diggity.  She wasn't lying.  I whipped up a batch of pumpkin spice cookies and surprised PJ with a "pumpkin-squared sammie."

Needless to say, I won major parental points.

We ran out of pumpkin spice cookies before we ran out of Blue Bell, so as of today we have moved on to soft-baked gingersnaps, which add a whole layer of flavor and dimension to PJ's new favorite dessert.

Gotta love Pumpkin Boy.