It's pumpkin season around here. I know, it's pumpkin season everywhere, but I live in the Sacramento Valley in the middle of agricultural fields and so around here it's pumpkin season on the ground and not just in the grocery store. And not just Jack O' Lanterns but baking pumpkins too.
We grew pumpkins in our yard this year and came out with a respectable little lumina, which we baked into bread. Shawn came home from the co-op with a couple of pumpkins last week which we've baked, barbecued, and turned into ice cream.
Luke's been eating a lot of pumpkin too. Last night during dinner, he chucked a piece of cauliflower on the floor.
"Do you want some more pumpkin, honey?" I held out a spoon full of pumpkin mush.
Luke turned around at pointed at a whole pumpkin sitting on the counter. Shawn and I were notably impressed.
"Very good, Luke. That's a pumpkin."
"Umpkin!" he announced.
Shawn and I looked at each other with dropped jaws. This is not Luke's first word. He has a vocabulary of about 20 words that are essential to his life. Words like duck and cheese.
But it's his first "pumpkin."