Jackson O'Lantern

The other day (maybe about a week ago now) I went to Costco with my kids.  Since it's nearly September, of course they have had all their Halloween stuff out for a while.  While making our way to the fruit/produce area, we passed by a display of motion activated decorations.  Mara spotted this giant jack-o-lantern and for some reason fell in love with it.  She begged me to buy the jack-o-lantern!  

It's about 2 feet tall, a foot and a half wide, with a big, wicked grin and glaring eyes.  When it detects motion, the eyes, nose and mouth all light up and it emits an evil sounding cackle.  It's awesome!  So of course I agreed and we bought the jack-o-lantern.  Mara named him Jackson O'Lantern, Jack for short, and we brought him home with us.  

Upon our arrival home, we discovered that we didn't have the right size screwdriver to open the battery compartment, so the jack-o-lantern sat, useless, in our living room until Corky managed to open the compartment with a steak knife.  I bought C batteries at Target, popped them in, taped the compartment shut with packing tape and we tried him out.  

Mara sat on the floor and stared at him for the better part of fifteen minutes.  We started playing with him.  I had switched him to the "light-up" mode (meaning he just stays lit and doesn't cackle) and Mara wanted him to laugh.

"Laugh, Jack," she said.

Jack didn't do anything.

"Why isn't he laughing?"

"Well you didn't ask him nicely," I pointed out.

She tried again.  "Jack, can you please laugh?"

I surreptitiously changed him to "motion-activated mode" and his little sensor detected Mara moving in front of him and he burst into laughter.

Mara's eyes lit up just like Jack's.  "He laughed!" she cried.  "He listened!"

For the next half an hour we played like this.  She would politely ask Jack to laugh and I'd switch him to sensor mode and he'd laugh.  She would politely ask him to stop and I'd switch him to light up mode.  Sitting him on my leg, I could make him shake or nod his head in response to yes or no questions.  Mara told him jokes and I'd switch him to sensor mode and he'd crack up, to her delight.

Playing with Jack in this way has become a daily activity.  I came into the living room the other day and found Jack sitting in Orion's Bumbo chair (which he's outgrown) wearing a tiara on his stem!

On Saturday, we needed to go to Target.  Guess who piled in the car along with Mara, Orion and me?  Yep.  You guessed it.

On Sunday, we had a family photoshoot scheduled in the morning.  Guess who made several appearances in our photos?  Yep.  Right again.

(photo credit: Jesse Morris)

We looked so funny walking through the park, me with Orion in my arms, Mara walking Abby and Corky pushing a stroller with a huge, cackling pumpkin in it.  In August, no less.

And last night, when Mara decided her room was too dark and scary?  Jack was there to ease her fears and keep watch over her as she slept.

I'm so glad I spent $25 on that silly pumpkin.  It's the little things, I guess.