This girl…

For the past 10 years she’s been my biggest helper in the kitchen. I couldn’t wait to get her in, cooking with me. As soon as she could sit up, I’d drag her high chair in and she’d sit watching me cook, banging measuring cups on her tray. She soon went from watching, to doing, and now… at the age of 10, can take on many recipes with little supervision….

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Earlier this week, my husband walked in the door from a long day at work and I immediately handed him a drink. “What’s this for?”, he asked. “I needed a drink and I felt guilty drinking alone, so I’ve been waiting anxiously for you to come home so I can have my drink.”

I don’t drink often. I promise I don’t. Especially at home. But on this particular day… this day where I spent the entire day arguing and getting to the end of my rope with my 8 year old, I needed a drink. Yes, I realize how stupidly insane it is to argue with an 8 year old, but I had to. And I most likely will continue to do so. I’m not so smart when learning about things that are stupidly insane to do.

You see, my 8 year old has become a giant know-it-all, about everything. Everything. Things that he has no clue about. Things that he wasn’t involved in. Things that he wasn’t even alive for. It is starting to get a little out of control and it is continuing to drive me crazy.

Do you need an example? Yesterday while we were in the car, my daughter Kelly was talking about something that happened at camp on a tightrope. She was describing the small tightrope and how they harnessed the girls in and let them safely walk across the tightrope. Jacob’s response? “That’s impossible. They did not have a tightrope there.” Kelly and I both responded, “Yes, they did.” Jacob, “No they didn’t.” “We have pictures to prove it, Jacob.” “No, they didn’t have any kind of tightrope at Kelly’s camp” And it went on and on and on. Or he’ll make up some trivia fact that I know is not true, and when I question him and how he knew that, he argues and argues and argues.This happens all.day.long. Non-stop. These are not the best examples, but the examples that were on my mind at the moment.

So, my question to parents, aunts, uncles, caretakers, grandmas, grandpas, friends of know-it-all children… how do you deal with this? I can’t have a drink every time we argue all day (or can I? 🙂 ). I can attempt to try to stop arguing with him, but then do I just let him go around spouting things and acting like he is the gospel word when I know very well what he is saying isn’t fact? And his arguing back is relentless… he does not give up, which brings out the immature kid in me and I keep arguing and arguing and arguing.

If you have any advice as to how to deal with an 8 year old know-it-all, I’d love to hear it. Really. I need your advice, or I may have to resort to drinking alone.

Vodka and Watermelon Cooler (from epicurious.com)

This is a lovely, refreshing, tastes like summer in a glass cocktail.

Yield: Makes 6 drinks

In a blender purée the watermelon pieces and strain the purée through a very fine sieve set over a pitcher, discarding the solids. (There should be about 2-1/3 cups juice). Stir in the vodka, the Triple Sec, and the lime juice, pour the cooler into long-stemmed glasses filled with ice cubes, and garnish each drink with a watermelon slice.

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First of all, did you know that National Apron Day is May 14th? If you don’t have an apron to wear, you had better get one quick! Head over to the Simply Aprons Etsy store and snatch one up, or enter to win the Honey I’m Home apron in Dine and Dish’s first giveaway! Click HERE for more information.

This morning my six year old woke up and was moping around before school, claiming “my tummy hurts”. He wasn’t running a fever, he ate a good breakfast, and was feeling good enough to torment his sisters. We walked up to school, I kissed him goodbye and all was well. All was well except for the small nagging in the back of my head about his tummy hurting. His actions told me that he was feeling okay, but my instinct told me that maybe I should have listened to him.

Fast forward to 10:30am, I am just getting ready to go and pick up the middle munchkin from preschool, and the phone rings. Sure enough, it was the school nurse. “I have Jacob in my office… he just got sick in class.” Ugh… “No, he didn’t make it to the bathroom, but he seems to be okay at the moment. How soon can you pick him up?” I was up there within minutes, feeling horrible that he had to be embarrassed in class simply because I didn’t listen to my instinct and keep him home. Bring on the mom of the year award, again!

Over the past week I have been tormented by the Epicurious widget on my blog. A photo of some gorgeous Lemon-Raspberry cupcakes kept tempting me, and I knew they would be in my future soon. For some reason, the urge to bake overwhelmed me this afternoon, so I decided to give the Lemon-Raspberry cupcakes a try. I love raspberry anything… my kids, however, haven’t developed the taste for raspberries yet. They prefer things on the mainstream line… strawberries, bananas, grapes… kid fruit. As you know, I am usually a “follow the recipe” kind of gal, and I rarely get creative in the kitchen doing my own thing. Unlike some of you, I have yet to develop that great kitchen instinct. Well, today, with these cupcakes I made a minor change. Nothing major, because you know, that would be a bit of a stretch for me. I don’t want to get out of hand or anything… can’t be getting all crazy like that in the kitchen just like that!

I trusted my instinct and decided to change the raspberry to strawberry and then topped them with a banana slice. Strawberry combined with banana is one of my favorite flavor combinations, and trusting my instinct with these cupcakes resulted in a dessert that was not only tasty, but a hit with my kids (or at least the two who weren’t losing their lunch).

I may have not had my instinct mojo going this morning when I sent my son to school, but I got it back this afternoon with these yummy cupcakes! This recipe is so versatile, you can trust your own instincts and use your own fruity flavor combinations. Now, go get crazy!

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