Patching It Up

We went to a pumpkin patch a couple of weeks ago. This is a tradition that we started last year, and, unlike the tradition of putting Joseph in a pumpkin, this tradition lasted for a second round.

I was excited to take lots of good pictures of Joseph because last year we got some really good ones. Well, it turns out that it was much easier to take pictures of Joseph last year when he was five months old, relatively uninterested in the pumpkin patch, and utterly immobile, than it was this year when all he wanted to do was climb all over the pumpkins instead of pose for pictures. But we got some good ones, and it's fun to compare.

Pumpkin Patch 2007:

With Cousins Lena and Dojo

With dad



Family



With Mom



Pumpkin Patch 2008:

With Mom



All alone (which he couldn't really do last year unless we laid him on the wet ground).

He loved sitting on the pumpkins ...

Climbing on the pumpkins ...



And jumping on the pumpkins (ouch!)

With Lena (couldn't get Dojo in the picture)



Scoping things out



Come to think of it, there are lots of differences between our visit last year and this year. They include:

1. Last year, it was cold. This year, it was hot.
2. Last year, we had to evacuate the day after the pumpkin patch because of fires. This year, we did not.
3. Last year, we ate lots of samples in the country store. This year, they didn't have any good samples.
4. Last year, Joseph ate breastmilk at some point during the visit. This year, he ate funnel cake. Much healthier.
5. Last year, we were too poor to take Joseph into the petting zoo. This year, we could spare the two dollars.

Speaking of the petting zoo, it was perhaps Joseph's favorite part of the pumpkin patch. Joseph is obsessed with animals and always gets really excited when he sees dogs or cats or birds or squirrels or rabbits around the park. He rarely gets to touch them, though ... and sometimes when people are nice enough to let him see their dogs, he ends up getting scared if they charge at him. So I wasn't sure how he'd react to being penned up with a bunch of goats, sheep, geese, chickens, ducks, and even a baby pig. He loved it.

Petting Zoo Fun:

Mom and Joseph with a cute little goat



Joseph and his friend



Getting ready to hit an innocent sheep. When Joseph gets really excited, instead of laughing or smiling he starts yelling really loud and (softly) hitting things. So there was a lot of yelling and hitting/petting. But I promise he was gentle.



Not so gentle, though, when he decided to be a lion tamer.





There were a bunch of ducks in this igloo thing. Joseph tried to go inside, and they all ran out toward him. It gave him quite the scare.



Also, I'm pretty sure the petting zoo gave him ring worm. No biggie. When I suspected this I promptly scheduled an appointment and started researching ring worm. I was pleasantly surprised to know that it's not a worm at all, it's just a fungus like athlete's foot or something. Still somewhat gross, but not NEARLY as gross as worms crawling under my baby's skin.

All in all, I think we'll do this again next year. Maybe we'll replace the petting zoo with a tractor ride, though.