Pumpkin Cutie-Pie

Pumpkins are usually the last thing on my mind in March, but I've been meaning to share this mini-project since Halloween, and The Pinterest Challenge is just the "Dude, get on that already" prompt I needed.

So with apologies for the weird season-mixing, here ya go.

I saw this picture over the summer on Pinterest and just about died of the cuteness:

(Pinterest)

(A note on the source:  The original pin doesn't have the online source of the image, but in the comment thread below the photo a Pinterest user says it's her photo and her daughter.)

I decided I had to have my own pumpkin baby for Halloween, and Tuck was the perfect age (he was a little under nine months old at the time).

Mr. E thought I was crazy.  Our conversation at the pumpkin patch ran along these lines:

Elle:  "Oh, and we need to get an extra pumpkin because I want to put Tuck in it."
Mr. E:  "You . . . what?"  
Elle:  "I want to cut out holes for his legs and sit him in it and take his picture.  I saw it online."
Mr. E:  "That sounds like child abuse."

But even Mr. E agrees the result is pretty compelling:

And it wasn't that abusive -- although the real torture may occur twenty years from now when Tuck brings his friends home from college and they catch a glimpse of that picture.  

This process is pretty self-explanatory, but I've sketched out the basics below.

How To Put a Baby in a Pumpkin

1.)  Obtain baby.  
2.)  Obtain pumpkin.  It helps to take the baby pumpkin-shopping with you, so you can hold him or her up to the candidate pumpkins and eyeball the size/shape that will best hold the baby.
3.)  Obtain cute pumpkin hat (optional).  Ours was a hand-me-down from friends.
4.)  Cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin.  Our top hole looked normal in the front, but it dipped down a bit more in the back to make an extra-big opening.
5.)  Scoop out innards of pumpkin.
6.)  Cut two leg holes near the bottom of the pumpkin.
7.)  Dress baby in something orange (also optional).
8.)  Prepare props and camera:

I calculated that Tuck would only tolerate a few minutes, max, of pumpkin captivity.  So I set the scene and snapped some test shots to make sure my camera was ready to go.

9.)  Place baby in pumpkin.
10.)  Rapidly snap pictures until baby protests and/or begins to gnaw pumpkin.

In Tuck's case, he didn't seem to mind the pulpy orange cage.  The hat was another story.  It lasted about 20 seconds.

11.)  Remove baby from pumpkin.
12.)  Remove clothes from baby and toss them in the laundry.
13.)  Upload pictures to Facebook.

Just seven months till Halloween!

This post is linked to:

The Pinterest Challenge at Young House Love
Wild Wednesday at Chatty Chics 
Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now