four

My baby turned four yesterday.

Isn't it funny, how as parents every year our child is older is a significant milestone?
This year for us four is so big, it's the crossing over from toddlerhood into a big boy. He's no longer really a baby. And then next year, he'll be five! And five is old enough to go to school!!

Every year they get older, it's significant, no doubt about it, and as parents it's hard not to dwell on their growth and mourn the stage that has just passed. Particularly when it's a move away from babyhood. Despite the sleepless nights (which don't hate me, I'm sorry to say we never had!), the nappies, and all the other traumas of babyhood, we still really mourn it's passing. I guess it says something about our stage of life too.

Today I'm not going to mourn the passing of my boy's babyhood. I'm going to celebrate all that he becomes now he is four. I'm going to reflect on the past year and cheer him for all his accomplishments, all the things he's learnt and conquered. All the growth and maturing he's done to become the wonderful little boy that he is. I'm going to amaze in his new found understanding of his emotions and behaviour. But most of all I'm going to enjoy all those four year old cuddles because four year old cuddles are so much bigger than three year old cuddles!



We celebrated last night with a special birthday dinner of Toby's favourite food; salmon sushi.

His cake, the second for the day, was chocolate and coconut. It comes from Jude Blereau's book Wholefoods for Children and is my standby chocolate cake recipe. It is soooo good and sooo easy to make!

I iced it with an icing I made from rapadura and coconut icing sugar (whizzed in the TMX), avocado, cacao powder, vanilla bean and a touch of rice water. It was an incredibly smooth and deliciously chocolatey flavour, it was a bit of an educated gamble, but it paid off!

 The kids adored the icing, particularly Lily who hates avocado. I didn't tell her there was an avocado in there!