C is for cupcake, that's good enough for me.

A few weeks ago, I was surfing the web, minding my own business, and I came upon cookie monster cupcakes. I showed them to Mary and Cole and that sealed the deal. We had our concept for Cole's birthday cake. Normally, we pride ourselves in coming up with cake ideas, but when you come across something this good, you have to use it.

The more ambitious cake decorator would use a star or wavy tipped piping bag and pipe 'fur' onto the top of each cupcake, but we were being pragmatic. First, the effort:benefit ratio seemed disproportionate. Second, there was a good chance that by the time we handed out the cupcakes, the warmth of the day would ruin the effect. But that doesn't matter because I think Mary's version reduces the cookie monster to his essential elements and succeeds in almost Warhol-like fashion.

Back to the point of this post: Cole turned 5 on the 17th of August.


We had a party at Rocks Riverside park again and enjoyed an afternoon in beautiful weather.

Interestingly, his favorite present he received was a set of knee, elbow and wrist pads. They were intended to keep him from losing too much skin at the skate board park, but he has adapted them to be part of his super hero uniform.

And why not? He now catapults himself from the couch and lands on his hands and knees with relatively little pain. He effortlessly glides across the tile kitchen floor without a bump or bruise. I don't know if his new found trust in safety equipment is healthy or permission to push the envelope even further. We can only keep giving him milk to strengthen his bones and hope for the best because I don't foresee him backing off.


Cole is consumed with creating and making things. He is happy to share his plans with us and enlists us to help him in his creations. However, if we try to come up with reasons why we don't have the materials to make whatever it is that he is trying to build, he will keep grilling us:
-Why don't we just by a big block of Styrofoam and some fiberglass to make a surf board?
-Why don't we use the scraps of wood in the back yard to build a new house?
-You need to find me some wheels so I can make a car that I can ride down a hill really fast.
-Let's make some snow today. I want to slide down a big snow hill. We are going to need really strong boxes to make the hill.

And then there are the times when he has asked us to do something, we have replied with some lame excuse as to why we weren't able to do it and he went ahead and did it at school just to prove to us that we have no vision.

Exhibits A & B:

surf board and guitar (It is hard to appreciate, but the guitar has rubber bands around the box which he twangs.)

Exhibit C:

matchbox car ramp

Exhibit D:

hang glider

And I can't find the photo of him and the parachute he made, but I think you get the point. I also regret not documenting the tow truck Mary had to stuff in the car one afternoon when she picked him up from school.

Where do we go from here? Our resources and tools are currently limited to cardboard, packing tape and yarn. He would rather use titanium, carbon fiber and ceramics as his media of choice. Maybe we should start saving up for a lathe, plasma cutter and a welding machine for his sixth birthday.