Vegan muffin madness

Vegan apple muffins = Vegan apple yummy

So – I’m not a baker, by any means. In fact, on my list of (loosely rated) domestic talents – which is short – cooking/baking is missing completely. Which is why I had a major anxiety attack when I learned that I’d be serving as snack mom this week for Blake’s (über-progressive) Waldorf preschool.

For me, the most stressful part of serving as snack mom stems from the snacks that have come before me – lush organic affairs harvested (in many cases) from the moms’ own back yards. For a girl completely un-versed in home-baked snack-age, it was a bit overwhelming.

After a quick consult with a long-time vegan friend who directed me to VegNews.com, I decided to go with a vegan apple walnut muffin (sans walnuts due to potential monster food allergies). Though relatively easy, the recipe called for list of ingredients that were entirely foreign to me. Sucanat? Barley flour? Apple cider vinegar? In fact, I had exactly ONE ingredient from the entire list in my house (salt). Which meant a trip to Whole Foods was in order.

It’s incredibly un-hip (and un-SoCal) of me to admit this, but I have never shopped at Whole Foods in my life, and I found it incredibly stressful to sort through the ridiculous number of organic ingredient options lining the shelves. After wandering aimlessly for at least an hour, I finally found everything I needed – to the tune of $68! (FYI, it is not cheap being an organic vegan mama in El Lay!)

I went home immediately to try a practice batch, just in case they didn’t turn out. Amazingly, they did – and even better than I could have imagined. They were sweet, soft, moist, and yummy – and if they weren’t so $*%&*!-ing expensive, I would make them every single day.

This morning, I finally had the chance to share my new culinary specialty with the kids at school. I don’t want to brag, but those 3-year-olds gobbled them up! Vegan apple muffins = very big hit for this little mama! Which means that maybe next time I won’t be quite so scared to take on the role of snack mom … as long as I’ve got enough cash in my bank account.

xoxo
muffin mama

A Very Spidey RSVP

So – I try to encourage Blake’s creativity every chance I get. I’ve been a dragon. A dinosaur. A racecar. Captain America. And for the most part, I totally “get” my son’s imagination (including the point at which it verges from reality). But the kid threw me a curve ball yesterday when he insisted – INSISTED – that Spider Man was coming to our house for an afternoon party. And “pretending” didn’t appear to be part of the plan.

At first I truly thought we were make-believing … I went into my, “Awesome, let’s get the house ready for Spidey!” discourse. But when Blake put his shoes and coat on, and told me it was time to pick Spider Man up from the airport, I was a little confused at what to do.

"Time to go, Mom! Spidey's waiting!"

At first I decided to pretend we were driving to the airport. But Blake totally called my bluff.

“Mom – we need to get in the car, actually.”

Um – ok. Not willing to actually drive to LAX to appease my son’s imagination, I told him that I arranged for Spider Man to take a taxi to our house, so we didn’t need to pick him up after all. (???) I then pretended Spidey was at the door, and greeted [the invisble] him cheerfully … only to have Blake look at me like I was mentally imbalanced.

“He’s not there, Mom. Actually.” (“Actually” is B’s new fave word, btw.)

Right. So Blake proceeded to go out to the porch to wait for Spider Man to actually arrive.

"Don't worry - I'll wait!"

At this point I was definitely a little concerned. It seems Blake really believed, for whatever reason, that Spider Man was coming to our house for an afternoon party. After about 20 minutes of waiting, Blake was starting to mope. I wasn’t quite sure what to do …

Luckily, I already have Spider Man on speed dial because of our chance meeting at SD Comic Con last summer; I call him when Blake is naughty, which is often.

So I gave Spidey a ring only to find – to my horror – that he had gotten caught up chasing bad guys and wouldn’t be able to make it to the party after all. Dang, dude.

"Hi, this is Spiderman. I can't come to the phone right now because I'm battling bad guys. Leave a message, and I'll call you back."

Blake was heartbroken. “Why does he have to fight bad guys? He could fight them here. Because why?”

In the end, he asked if I could write Spider Man a note for him. This is what he wanted it to say:

Sorry we missed you, Spidey!

I’m not sure if I handled this scenario correctly. Though I want B to have a healthy imagination, I definitely want him to know the difference between reality and the “neighborhood of make believe,” where we already spend much of our time.

Any thoughts on the best way to handle an imagination gone wild, or the very real chance of disappointment once a dream fails to become reality?

xoxo

Mama-the-Spidey-Chaser

 

Where’s Waldorf …

This morning we checked out the open house at a new Waldorf School up the street (http://maplevillage.wordpress.com/), and we had a ridiculously good experience. In fact, no matter what I seem to do to evade Waldorf, it keeps coming back around to me. After this morning, it’s hard to imagine not going the Waldorf route with our family.

My husband has always been super clear that he doesn’t want Blake Dean to end up like either one of us. I know – ouch. But I think what he means is that he wants him to be a lot more outgoing and confident than either of us are. When it comes to social ineptitude, I’m your girl. (One of my friends once suggested I get a tshirt that says “Making people uncomfortable since 1977.”) Whether he likes it or not, Blake is a lot more reserved than most kids. So in the end, more than a school that focuses on reading and math (which we know BD will kick ass at anyway) we want to find the right environment where BD can grow and flourish and find that confidence that will carry him throughout his life.

Enter Waldorf, which focuses on just those things right from the earliest years. Their program starts even before pre-school with a parent-toddler bridge program to help the monsters get used to attending school with a parent and then gradually moves on from there. After that, it focuses on learning via head, heart and hands – learning about things, caring about things, and doing things – so that when kids learn they do it at a super deep level. It’s also a super small, home-like environment, which really builds confidence and a love of learning.

The families we met were amazing. There was everything from a pair of gay dads with triplets to a pragmatic pilot with his wife and three kids – and Blakey was happy as a clam chilling with all of them. Though it’s an alternative type of school, it just seems to fit so many different types of people so wonderfully … though I love the co-ops and beach schools we’ve seen, I’m wondering if Waldorf might fit closer with the learning experience we want to give our children.

Regardless of where BD ends up, I want to thank my husband (a Catholic boy from Virginia) for being open enough to go to the event with us. Though we have a lot in common, we’re also super different on many levels, and it meant a lot to me that he would consider this type of school for BD. :)