kimberly April 15th, 2009
Adam and I continue to have our ups and downs, but for the past few days, things have definitely been looking up. (He still has massive sleep issues, now requiring either Todd or me to sit with him in his room each night until he falls asleep, but at least he’s no longer screaming at the thought of going to bed. Baby steps.) I think he’s trying to figure out his place in the world knowing that Leah will (hopefully!) be joining our family soon and it’s causing him no small amount of grief.
Now that the weather is finally getting more spring-like (without the rain!) we’ve been getting outside more, which has been good for both of us. Adam has finally surrendered himself to the fact that there will be no riding his bike or scooter unless he wears his helmet, and he’s now becoming a lot more confident on his two-wheeler (with training wheels) and his little scooter.
Todd and I don’t bother with Easter baskets for Adam but we do try to get him a little something each year. This year it was the latest Scaredy Squirrel book, in which our hero conquers his fear of bad dreams. The book was a huge hit with Adam, who’s trying to read through it all by himself, and I only help out with the words he doesn’t know.
It’s been an interesting transition as I move from the reader of all stories to merely the helper. In most ways, it’s awesome, because I love watching Adam gain more confidence in his reading as he begins using a lot more inflection in his voice to emphasize what he deems to be the dramatic parts of the story. On the other hand, I can no longer just read on auto-pilot, so I have to pay a lot more attention to jump in to help him sound out some of the trickier words. Either way, there’s nothing quite like having Adam ask me what books I would like him to read to me.
We had Easter dinner at Todd’s parents’, and I was asked to bring a dessert that Adam and I could both eat. Bring on the vegan cupcakes!
Though it’s completely unseasonal, I opted for pumpkin chocolote chip cupcakes with cinnamon buttercream frosting (VCTOTW). As you can see, Adam loves them.
I think his plan involved eating the cupcake first and saving the frosting till the end. Partway through, he realized he was going to get very messy and just crammed as much cupcake in his mouth as possible to avoid getting his hands sticky.
These cupcakes were divine. Rather than the suggested cinnamon glaze, I used the vanilla buttercream frosting recipe from the book and added 1-1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, resulting in a tasty, fluffy frosting that perfectly complimented the not-overly-sweet taste of the cupcake. I should have used a larger tip to pipe the frosting, and have noted that for the next time. Because there will definitely be a next time.
Of course, before Adam could eat his cupcake (these were actually leftover cupcakes that we brought home to eat on Monday), Adam ate every last bit of his lunch.
This is a pretty typical lunch for Adam, which basically involves me cutting up whatever veggies I have on hand, along with half a pita cut into wedges (ABI5MAD), a giant dollop of roasted red pepper hummus (ED&BV) (which Todd, Adam and I all love), and something tiny to fill up the last little section of his divided plate — in this case, three kalamata olives. Adam shares my love for avocado, so that often makes an appearance. It’s an easy lunch that is quick for me to get on the table that Adam will usually gobble up without fuss. And often times ask for seconds.
Tags: adam, cupcakes, lunch, vegan, vegan baking
