On Track

The 3YO completed his transformation into a 4YO over the weekend, right on schedule. If you’re imagining a change of Incredible Hulk-type proportions, you’re not that far off. It’s hard to grow up. There’s a lot of roaring and vein-bulging and turning strange colors. A good deal of throwing things that you thought were pretty well anchored-down, not to mention clothes fitting one minute and falling off in shreds the next. The 4YO’s growing pains are legendary, causing him to wake up in the middle of the night yowling, “My bones are breaking.” The kid is growing like a tenacious weed (but a weed that’s finally out of diapers, praise Jesus).

Another year means another birthday party, so Husband got to flex his cake- decorating muscles once again. This year, the theme was trains. Not trains with faces, though. Don’t be silly. The 4YO is WAY beyond Thomas the Tank Engine, he’ll have you know, even though I still catch him playing with them once in a while. No, non-anthropomorphized trains were the order of the day, and Husband (an engineer in his own right) delivered:

You have to admit it’s pretty cute. Each boxcar is a double-layered cake with Life-Savers for wheels. I was initially turned off by the thought of a wintergreen/ chocolate frosting combination, but Husband got the orange-flavored ones and the combo wasn’t half bad.

Husband’s creations seem to have sparked a vicious game of one-upmanship among the dads in the neighborhood (if, by vicious, I mean delicious). Tractors and treasure maps have recently been rendered out of cake and icing to the delight of children and wives alike. I wonder what feats of engineering are in store for us next year?

Thank heaven for little boys!

Comments

[Pam]

I love the thought that all the guys are getting competitive over cake decorating!

[maybelles mom]

i have two in diapers and I dream of a day, nay I shant say it. great cake.

[MidLifeMama]

Uh, HELLOOOOO I live in that neighborhood, sort of, and have seen NO CAKE whatsoever. WTtheheck.

However, nice cake.

[Amy]

For Haley's 1st birthday I made Kaluha Coffee Cake, and for Trevor's 1st birthday I made Piña Colada Cupcakes. Clearly, I am not a good role model.

Haley has begged me to be "normal" and make her something with princesses on it when she turns four in February.

Maybe Trevor will get these trains when he turns two. Love it!

[melch]

Nice team effort! Now I want cake. It's a horrible thing to be addicted to a food blog.

[Weekend Farmer aka Hafiz.]

Salaam,

Just wanted to say hi and see how you are doing.

Love the blog. Thats a great post on Sidi's lamb stew and enjoyed reading about not so organic catch on fishing day : ). Hot dog for bait...never thought of that. Sounds like an idea.

Stay well.

Hafiz.

[Megan Carroll]

I am inspired, I am trying to make food more fun (including desert). I may have to make a cake for no other reason that to impress my three yr olds!

[Tammy]

Megan: Husband made a regular round cake for the adults and, I have to say, eating the train cake was way more fun!

Hafiz: I caught up on your blog as well. I love the look of those grapes. I have a recipe coming up that might be of use to you.

melch: It's really unfortunate that food blogs don't come with free samples.

Amy: On the contrary, you're the best sort of role model!

MidLifeMama: The train got eaten before he finished making all of his stops!!

maybelles mom: Yes, I know how important it is not to jinx it. For us, it took over a year to make it happen. Good luck to you.

Pam: Me, too. And love that we all get to benefit from it.

[heath]

Train cake SO CUTE. And I'm really glad you're doing well. I haven't cooked anything but hot dogs and mac and cheese in ages (why didn't somebody TELL me that kids fuck up your cooking groove, both by being underfoot every minute and by NOT EATING ANY FRICKING THING WITHOUT THE WORD "KRAFT" ON THE BOX??)