Cupcakes

One of my strategies for surviving my three-year-old monster is to have creative one-on-one time with him every day.  He looks forward to it, we both feel like we've accomplished something by the time we're done, and we usually have something to "show-off" for dad when he gets home.  It's worked out pretty well so far.  Right now my little guy is OBSESSED with holidays, especially birthdays.  He wants to celebrate someone's birthday everyday!!  On one particular day he asked if we could make cupcakes.  For some reason I said we could, but later.  He never forgot and hounded me about it for DAYS!  So finally I sucked it up and prepared to make cupcakes with a three-year-old...and let me just say it turned out to be one of the BEST activities we've done so far!  There were lots of little things he could help with, like lining the muffin trays and dumping in dry ingredients.  He loved watching me mix the batter and pour it into the cupcake liners and he was absolutely AMAZED by how the batter turned into "circles".  He loved licking the beaters we used to make the frosting (when we were all done, of course...though we had a few close calls while we in the process of mixing) and he LOVED putting on the sprinkles.  I would frost and he would add the sprinkles and I was totally impressed at how well he did.  I didn't put one sprinkle on!  After we were all done we picked someone in the neighborhood to share our cupcakes with and he proudly handed them over to the lucky recipients later that evening.  They gave him wonderful, glowing praise and he ended the day as one happy little monster...I mean boy.  I really am still amazed at how well it all went.  So, if you have a birthday coming up, or you just want something fun to do with the kids, this may be the one for you!!  Happy baking!