I Tried...

Our sweet baby girl turned 1 year old last week! We had a small celebration at home with Grandma and Grandpa Shike on her birthday and then a big joint birthday party with our friend, Caleb, that Saturday. In the weeks leading up to her birthday, I debated whether to let her have the sugary goodness of a normal birthday cake or whether to try some fruit-juice-sweetened substitute. She loves fruit and sweet vegetables such as corn and sweet potatoes, so I knew she had a sweet tooth and was hoping to direct it towards healthy "sweets" rather than cake and cookies. I searched the internet and parenting books looking for some yummy fruit-juice-sweetened cake ideas and found a couple that I thought would work.

For her actual birthday I made her apple-juice-sweetened blueberry muffins in honor of her love of blueberries (One day, she ate well over 50 blueberries. I figured she'd stop when she was full! Evidently, that doesn't apply to blueberries. We "paid the price" a day or two later...).

Hmmm...food on fire...fun!

Not quite as good as fresh blueberries, but "also favorite"

I was encouraged by the success of the blueberry muffins, so I decided to try making her some cupcakes for her and Caleb's birthday party on Saturday. I found a recipe for "Fruit-Sweetened Sugar Free Cake" on the Whole Foods website and topped the cupcakes with lightly sweetened whip cream and fresh berries.

What's this? More food on fire?

Blueberries...yum...

She was a little frustrated when I took off the Winnie the Pooh candle since it looked delicious, but she enjoyed the berries and tolerated the whip cream. When it came to the cake, though, she was not at all interested.

No thanks!

Meanwhile, Caleb (who was celebrating his 2nd birthday), was devouring the multi-layered chocolate cake that his mom made for him. Mihret was watching him intently, but not following his lead.

Caleb enjoying his delicious chocolate cake

We bought a yummy chocolate cake for the rest of the people at the party, so once I gave up on Mihret eating her cupcake, I helped myself to a slice.

Caleb and Mihret's Birthday Cake (which was for us - not for them...hmmm...)

I couldn't have eaten more than a few bites before Mihret came over to investigate what Mama was eating.

What's that, Mama? Can I have some?

So I gave in. Gave up. It was HER birthday party, after all. And in the Shike tradition, it turns out that she REALLY likes chocolate. Grandpa was pleased... After a couple of bites off my plate, she crawled over to her highchair. I gave her the rest of my cake. What else could I do?

She also insisted on using my fork. I think she might have been worried that if I kept the fork, I might continue to eat her cake.

Now this is more like it!

Happy Birthday, Mihret!

So it turns out that our one-year-old has an opinion, and her opinion is that chocolate trumps "fake cake" (as someone else in the family referred to it). All I can say is that I tried. I really tried.