After Pumpkin Picking

I have long feared becoming "those parents." You know, the ones who wait for hours for their child to sit on Santa's lap-not because the child wants to, but because they think it will make for an adorable photo op.
So it gave me some pause when I realized that we had stuffed Ian in a pumpkin outfit (spoiler alert-would you care to guess what Ian is going to be for Halloween this year?) and trekked on out to the local pumkin sale, partially to obtain a pumpkin but mostly to obtain a cute photo op. Worse yet, the obtaining a pumpkin function was probably mostly motivated by the desire for a future Jack O'Lantern photo op.
The one thing that allows me to cling to a shred of self-respect is the fact that the pumpkin outfit was a hand-me-down from a friend. Had I spent my own hard-earned dollars on such a frivolous thing, I would have completed my journey over to the dark side of the force only to become Those Parents (as opposed to something cool, like a Dark Lord of the Sith. You could call me Darth Domesticus).
So, anyway, to avoid making a fairly short story even longer, here is the reason you tuned in (Cue the cuteness reel!):

Here is a cool fall breeze blowing Ian's wispy hair. And some pumpkins.


Here is Ian with some more pumpkins. Notice Elaine's foot partially in the frame. This is a recurring theme in our photos, as Elaine, like me (and now Ian), has unusually large feet. Before you think some mean thought at me (like how it's not nice to comment on Elaine's feet and their size), I would point out that: 1)I find Elaine's feet very attractive. After all, I'm married to her and you're not, and 2)How many women can you name with larger feet? If the answer is "not many," then you would agree that her feet are unusually large. Just like I believe Elaine is unusually intelligent, and unusually enlightened in her sense of humor vis-a-vis my jokes, and so on. Which is why I married her (refer to point 1). The point of all this is that I asked her to move slightly farther away from Ian so her feet were no longer in frame.


So it turns out that it was a perhaps a good idea for Elaine to be fairly close to Ian in case he, for example, began to lose his balance. Such as in this photo. For all that, her foot is, I might point out, still partly in-frame.


As I was taking this, a family with young children walked by, and the father gave a knowing chuckle at the shamelessness with which Ian had been posed in this perch atop the idyllic hay bale.


And to cap it off, here is Ian quasi-standing (pseudo-standing?) and looking mischievous. And Elaine's feet in frame in case Ian loses his balance. Because if he fell from a standing position and hit his pumpkin on another pumpkin, that's just a hard thing to have to admit to the ER doctor.

Oh, and special autumn snobby liberal arts points to you if you caught the literary reference in the title of this post.

-Doug