The boy is 2!

How did this happen? My boy is 2 today and the last 2 years have been a complete whirlwind.

Things he likes

His big Sisters

There’s only 17 months between Little D and Miss C and they are really close. He was a bit lost when she started nursery last year because she’s always been at home with him. He loves going to nursery to drop her off and pick her up and gets so excited when he gets her back.

There’s 8 years between him and Miss B and he absolutely adores her. She is really protective of him and he has such a soft spot for her. He really looks up to her and she is great with him. He loves it when she reads him a story or builds a den for him and I love watching their relationship.

Don’t get me wrong, they all have their moments together. On Christmas Day he and Miss C spent the whole day fighting over a talking Jessie the Cowgirl doll and there are regular screaming matches over toys but in general they get on well.

Music and Dancing

He loves nothing more than shaking his butt to music and in particular he loves Little Mix, Foo Fighters and Taylor Swift. He also loves the Frozen soundtrack and wakes us up most mornings by singing “Let it Go”.

I am a big fan of Strictly and when the last series was on he was so excited to get up and dance around with his sisters, getting swung around and dizzy!

Movies 

He loves watching movies and his current favourites are:

• Frozen
• Moana
• Cars
• Tangled
• Sing
• Toy Story

I hit a stage of CBeebies overload so was really glad to have movies on instead. I don’t think I’ve seen the same hand full of films so much in my life (even taking into account the Dirty Dancing years) but it’s good to mix it up.

Food

The boy can eat! He eats everything that’s put down in front of him and even though he has a severe egg allergy it’s not held him back in anyway. We’ve had to adapt a few things but I’m glad to say he’s thriving and loves to try new things. His favourite dinners are spaghetti bolognese, sausage casserole and chicken and chorizo stew.

Housework

Just like his sisters he has been involved in the house and routine from as soon as he could be. His favourite jobs are sorting the washing, loading and unloading the machine and drier. When I tidy the living room, he goes around behind me and picks up any toys lying around and loves to hoover and dust. I think it is so important that kids get involved with the household stuff and are encouraged to be independent and he is more than happy to get stuck in.

Things He Doesn’t Like

To be honest there isn’t much he doesn’t like, he is pretty chilled and laid back. He really is a little ray of sunshine, always smiling and happy. He is a joy to be around and even though he doesn’t seem to like sleeping past 5:30am much (cheers son) I wouldn’t change him at all.

Here are some pictures of his magic twos

Two Minutes

Two Days

Two Weeks

Two Months

Two Years

Happy birthday my gorgeous boy

Cx

Vegan Vanilla Cake

When I found out the boy was allergic to eggs I wasn’t overly concerned. Having dealt with his sisters allergies for the previous few years I was confident I knew what I was doing. Obviously he wouldn’t be having scrambled or dippy eggs but as always there are hidden ingredients in things where you wouldn’t expect.

One thing I didn’t think about was cake. We’ve always tried to hang off giving the kids sweet stuff too early but as it was coming up to his first birthday I knew I had to do some research. I had a look around and the majority of responses pointed me in the direction of a Depression Cake, so called because it was made during the depression when there was rationing and cake ingredients were scarce.

I made the chocolate cake which was egg and dairy free and it was really nice although quite heavy. It had the consistency of chocolate brownies and it tasted lovely.

With the boys birthday coming up again I decided to look for a vanilla cake recipe, because to me there’s nothing nicer than a vanilla birthday cake.

I had a look around and found lots of different recipes and read through reviews and opinions until I settled on this one.

Since I’ve never made it before I decided to do a trial run and today used the recipe, halving the quantities, to make cupcakes.

They were really simple to make and I didn’t need any special ingredients, everything was all ready in the baking box. I substituted the butter for dairy free Vitalite and the whole milk for Almond Milk so it was dairy free too.

I got the girls involved in making them and they had a lot of fun, especially licking the bowl at the end. Everyone was eager to try them so while they were still hot we all tried one. They were absolutely delicious and got a thumbs up from everyone. When I make his actual birthday cake I’ll document it for you all but I would recommend this recipe for anyone looking for vegan cakes.

Big thanks to Mommy’s Home Cooking for letting me link it up.

Cx