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As a kid I always felt like I had a gigantic head. Not that my head was enormous. It was just at the large end of the scale, but its size was magnified by my tiny sloped shoulders and spindly neck. Everyone in my family acknowledges that I took the longest to learn to walk. However, nobody talks about how long it took me to be able to lift my head off the floor when learning to crawl.

I’m sure that my fixation with the size of my head growing up was the latent body dysmorphia of a pre-adolescent. Still, my self-image was often shaken when my mother would affectionately address me as “pumpkin head.” For someone who is already too aware of the size of his head, having it compared to an enormous gourd does not inspire much affection in return. That is why I am so pleased that I can pass along such a neurosis to my own son.

When Vince and Jen, two friends of ours who live in Omaha, came down last Sunday, Vince brought with him the tools of the ancient craft of pumpkin carving. He also brought along a pre-made template for putting Mason’s face on a pumpkin. The results are remarkable. Be warned, though, that if you look at some of the pictures long enough it may kinda creep you out. The pictures are in the publicly accessible “Highlights.” Go here to see Mason’s Pumpkin Head.