Topic-Changing Thursdays: Dear Fudgelet, Part 7

Dear Fudgelet,

As I write this, I am freaking out a bit. Today we took you to your preschool orientation. In a few days you will start preschool for real. While we sat at the orientation, I started to panic that I had chosen the wrong school.

• It seemed too crazy as we went in with all of the other families there.
• The bathroom is a public one and you get scared of how loud they flush…now you will have to flush them on your own.
• You just wanted to play solo and K mentioned that a Montessori school might have been a better fit after all (I still don’t think so but this gave me doubts too).
• They “hope” to teach you to read 25 words but you can already read every word in the room and more.
• Will you learn anything?
• Will you be safe?
• Are the teachers going to look out for you?
• Are you going to miss me?
• How will I make sure to get you on time when pick-up is during his usual nap and if I’m even a minute late you might worry?

And then I started to realize that my fears had nothing to do with the specific school. I mean, they do, but I would come up with any fears for your first time away from me. You will be with people I barely know and I won’t know what is happening while you are gone. The first day I might not cry, but I will likely be in a state of panic the whole time.

What do I hope for you with school?

I hope:

• You will have fun.
• You will learn academics but also common sense and social skills, too.
• You and I will learn to be okay being separated for lengths of time.
• You will be excited to go.
• You will make friends.
• You will like your teachers, but still think I’m ok.
• You will be excited for Kindergarten.
• You will not be bored but will find everything interesting.
• You will not be the perfect student, but will try hard and mostly follow directions.
• You will be safe.
• You will listen and absorb, but also remember and follow what we teach you at home.

This will post on the day you have your first field trip. It is also the day I need to bring in snacks for the class. I did that on purpose, to help remind myself, haha. I think I will be there for your field trip, so we shall see how it goes. And by then, we will hopefully be following our new routine of school days and days off without as much panic.

Happy Start of School! Your life will be changing so much and you are now out in the world. I hope the world isn’t too hard on you but that you learn some good lessons along the way.

Love,
Mom

Grilled Caramel Sesame Chicken

This recipe started off with every thought of me following it word for word. But we don’t like fish sauce, no matter how hard we try. So, I swapped it with some Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce. And then I was going to use skewers but chickened out (pun intended) at the last moment. That’s why my chicken is chopped when it didn’t need to be with the way I cooked the chicken. But, it still ended up delicious the way I made it. We loved it over rice.

Topic-Changing Thursdays: The Chiplet is 10 Months Old!

Let me start by saying I spent much of this last month feeling anxious about the Chiplet. I know every kid is different but it is hard not to compare the brothers, or even with the milestones you see online. But, thankfully, I am feeling a bit better about things and the Chiplet is exactly the same level of happy that he has been his whole life.

Mixed Bag Mondays: Cookies and More

Here we are today with some recipes that I honestly can’t even remember where all of them came from. So, it’s a good chance to show some fails. The successes I tend to remember better, so that’s good for everyone.

German Chocolate Wedding Cake

A friend was getting married and she was doing a smaller celebration, but had invited me to be a witness. I wasn’t sure if she was going to have a cake, but I knew her favorite cake flavor and I wanted to make one for them, even if they were also having additional cake. So, I had this plan but didn’t tell her since I wanted it to be a surprise. I had also thought of incorporating these brownies somehow since they are one of her favorite treats but I didn’t think it would work well as a cake layer. I bought a box for the cake and it was a bit larger than I intended so I had to make a cake to match. I went from making “maybe a 3 layer 6 inch cake” to a 4 layer 8 inch cake with lots of frosting.

Cookies and Cream Cake

After teasing this a bit a few days ago, here I bring to you a cake recipe. Today is special because it is the first day I drop off the Fudgelet for preschool and LEAVE HIM for 2.5 hours. I know it’s silly to be sad about this when it is only 3 days a week and not even a whole day. Plus I still have the Chiplet at home, but I am pretty sure there might be tears. I am hoping he will be fine and not miss me at all, but I know I will miss him. I even miss him when K takes him out for stuff. He has been my sidekick for 4 years and now my spot as his favorite adult female might get usurped by some fun teachers. If I can manage it, I will make some chocolate chip cookies for when he comes home, just like my mom did every year for our first day of school.

Which has nothing to do with this cake…

This is a whole different kind of cookie.

Topic-Changing Thursdays: The Fudgelet’s 4th Birthday Cake….s

Did you read the title? If you did then you can see that I made multiple cakes for the Fudgelet this year. We made rainbow cupcakes for his actual birthday and then his birthday party was a few weeks later. Since his birthday is so close to K’s birthday, we just made a small batch of cupcakes and then made a big cake for K this year (some years I do a smaller cake for K). And I knew the Fudgelet would get more cake at his party.

Let’s start with the cupcakes!