One Halloween activity you really can do with a toddler

Mira Jacob, Shine staff

Lately, with the onslaught of seasonal activities "perfect" for kids, I've been kind of overwhelmed by everything my son is still too young to really enjoy. Teaching the real history behind the holiday? Making a costume together? Fat chance. At barely 2 years old, there's a lot of kid stuff that LBZ is not quite ready for. Take our trip to an apple orchard two weekends ago. What seemed like it would be "beautiful outdoor deliciousness" in my mind translated into "CARSEAT! CARSEAT! APPLE! CARSEAT!" for my son.

He's not big enough to be scared of the decorations, and not old enough to be stoked about the candy, and in fact, this Halloween the only thing I've seen him truly jazzed over is spotting pumpkins.

"PUMPKIN!" he will yell at every one he sees, sometimes offering a bold, "HI PUMPKIN, HOW ARE YOU?", sometimes whispering nervously to me, "What pumpkin doing, mommy?", like it's going to follow us.

So this weekend, prepping for a friend's Halloween party, I decided to carve up a pumpkin while he watched. Or, to be more honest, I decided to send him off to play while I clumsily did great damage to an innocent gourd.

"YUCK!" He announced when I lifted the lid off and showed him the mucky insides. He shook his head vigorously when I asked him if he wanted to feel the seeds, but cackled like a mad man when I kept pulling out handful after handful. The strings that came out with them were also exciting, if only because the 6-year-old hanging out with us yelled, "Guts!" and apparently, that's a magic word for all boys everywhere.

And strangely, this was all genuinely fantastic. I mean, I understand that we weren't hand-sewing pilgrim outfits with the tools available to our early settlers, but at the same time, we were doing it, taking part in a seasonal ritual and having fun with it. And while LBZ might not be filled with love and light and whatever else kids are supposed be filled with when partaking in these family activities, one day he might just know that pumpkin "guts" are "yuck." For us, that's a great start.