Nathanael's New Adventure

Today my littlest boy started on his pathway to higher education....atleast we hope that's where his pathway leads. Regardless, he started preschool. I thought he was pretty excited to start "Sam's old school". He had talked about it plenty over the last few months. But this morning, when he slept later than Sam (which is unusual), Sam predicted that "maybe he doesn't want to go to school." Sure enough, when I sat him down to eat his breakfast, he just sat there, not eating, as if by prolonging breakfast he could avoid going to school. When I went over to him he told me "I don't want to go to school today. I don't want to make new friends." (Amazing! This child might be mine afterall!) I told him he didn't have to make new friends because his friend Benjamin would be in his class. That seemed to solve all his problems and from that moment on, he was perfectly willing to go to his new school.

We got to school a few minutes early, so while we were waiting in the van Nathanael started begging me to let him out so he could just wait on the sidewalk. As soon as they opened the doors and I got him out of the van, he started marching towards the school, calling over his shoulder "bye, Mom". Gee, thanks. He marched right inside and promptly found the toys he wanted to play with while they waited to begin their day.
And how did I spend my time while I was without children this morning? I tested out a new, picky-eater friendly, quick morning breakfast (or snack) recipe. It is basically a banana bread recipe, but also has squash and carrots in it. I figured they would probably taste pretty good, but I was concerned about whether or not Sam would eat them, purely because he would be able to see the carrots. To minimize the risk of his rejection, after I grated the carrots, I gave them a ride in my Vitamix to chop them into smaller shreds. They smelled delicious while baking and I tested out a few as soon as they were done. I thought they were very flavorful and incredibly moist. I couldn't wait for the boys to test them out. And, hooray, they both found them to be quite pleasing to their palates.

Next time I make them, I'd like to try to replace some or most of the butter with applesauce or yogurt. And in place of the oat bran, I just blended up some dry oatmeal. Other than that, they are perfect just the way the recipe says.

Toddler Muffins
via allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, or to taste
2 large bananas, mashed
1 (4.5 ounce) jar baby food squash
2 carrots, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 24 mini muffin cups or 12 standard muffin cups.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the mashed bananas, squash, carrots, and eggs. Stir in the flour, oat bran, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt until just combined. Spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Store at room temperature for up to two days, or freeze.

Back to school!

I don't know how it happened, but somehow summer ended. It was rather abrupt. One day we were enjoying leisurely days spent baking, playing, traveling about town...

And the next day I was suddenly out of time to purchase school supplies. This was, quite possibly, the quickest summer of my life. Why is it that on the last day of school it always seems like an eternity before the next school year will begin, yet as soon as the Fourth of July rolls around, it seems that summer passes by in a blink? However it happened, the night of Meet the Teacher came around and Sam was both excited and nervous to find out what first grade was going to be like. He had been hoping all summer long that he would get our neighbor, Mrs. Cole, for his teacher and that his friend, Logan, would be in his class. That night we found out that his wish was granted and Sam was so happy. It made me feel more at ease, too. And then it happened; last Wednesday morning my first born went off for his first day of public school. I walked him in and let him lead the way down the hallways to his classroom. He remembered how to get there perfectly. I probably felt more awkward than he did, as he settled himself into his seat and I was left wondering how long it was appropriate to linger around and how many pictures I could take of him without being a weirdo mother. Truthfully, I would have been happy to stay there with him all day long, if that were acceptable. But alas, I told him goodbye and walked out the door, to spend the remainder of the day wondering how and what he was doing.

When I picked him up from school, he was all smiles. He had a great day and had even found an old preschool friend on the playground at recess. He told me that all the kids in his class are nice and he loved that they even went to PE. Here's hoping that the rest of the year goes as smoothly as the first week.