Eli is still very much in love with his big pumpkin, however he has never liked the stem so this weekend he covered the stem w/crate paper and was very pleased the the ugly stem was covered up. He was also excited when I informed him that he could use washable markers on it and then clean it off if he did not like what he had written or made. I have yet to convince him to carve it we will see. He enjoyed coloring on it and we even practiced his words on it to something different for a change.