My sweet boy

Yesterday we went to Sam Moon and E and Em both picked out new backpacks. Actually, Em chose a backpack for E, which he insisted was the one he wanted. It's a frog backpack. His broken backpack was a frog backpack. This one's bigger, at least. And Em then picked out about 20 backpacks for her. After much cajoling, she decided on a black Avengers hologram backpack - she say it's a boy backpack but it's the one she wants. Fine with me, since it was on clearance...

E was sure to confirm with me that he was paying for the backpack with the money he had saved ($2.53, but who's counting?) and checked all the tags for the prices. We may have gone a leeeetle over budget but he doesn't need to know that.


And today, I got this text from Sherri:

'E was so sweet... we were reading and he says... I think I'm gonna go to bed now... maybe when I wake up I can hide from mommy... I said why do you hide from her... he says cause I like to be found by her!'

Sweet boy.

Piggy cake

The kids' primary contribution was the decoration - sprinkles and chocolate chips. Moments after the photo, the eyeballs were enucleated and digested by my assistants. 

I baked an almond cake and 3 cupcakes last night after E went to bed. Today, before we decorated, he went to the little kitchen and baked a pretend cake in his pretend oven, while barking out orders to his sous, Em. We decorated and ate a real, rather tasty almond cake with a very simple buttercream (butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, red food coloring).

Peachy pops

E's first recipe. Blend peaches, yogurt, and honey, freeze, roll in sugar sprinkles. The recipe photo included a gumball garnish which, to E, was the most important piece of the process. 

We already had Dixie cups and Popsicle sticks. We shopped for ingredients, including gumballs. I warned E that we would have to wait for the mixture to freeze. He was incredibly patient. He went to bed knowing the pops would've ready in the morning, and he woke up asking about them. He ran to the fridge, pulled out a pop, and brought it to me (still in bed). He happily rolled them in sprinkles, plated them with gumballs, then dove in. 

He loved preparing then eating his snack. And it's slightly healthier than the cookies and brownies we've been making nightly, at his request. 

Recipe #2 (piggy cake) was not even a little healthy, though. I'm trying to convince him to look beyond the snacks and desserts in his recipe box... 

Adventures in toddler cooking

...cooking with toddlers, not cannibalism...

E loves all things kitchen. In his play kitchen, he prepares elaborate meals with unusual menu items like lettuce soup. At the children's museum he loves the laminated recipe cards and shops for all the ingredients on every card. 

For Christmas I bought him a recipe box with kids' recipes, and he has selected a couple that we've made together. He helps shop, prep, and garnish. 

Of course, Em helps. She is often his sous in the imaginary kitchen adventures and usually looks on during our cooking sessions. She is an eager taste tester as well.