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4!

Luke just turned 4, and we had a family birthday party for him. There were presents and a cake with candles. He has apparently gotten over the worst of his fear of fire, since his eyes were glowing happily when we lit the candles, and he didn't protest when we moved the cake closer to him so that he could actually blow out the candles instead of blowing across the table. I think he doesn't remember previous birthdays, since he keeps saying "This is my first birthday party!" We do correct him, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

He does love to help me bake, and he was very clear about what kind of cake he wanted. "Blueberry chocolate chip," he told me on the playground earlier today. I'm not surprised, since he's fascinated by blueberries, although his sisters both don't like them. So this afternoon I went to my favorite search engine and looked for vegan blueberry cake. (I realize I should have planned ahead. In my defense, I did have a plan B: make my favorite chocolate cake and frost with blue frosting.)

Not surprisingly, there weren't any blueberry chocolate chip cakes, and most of the blueberry cakes weren't meant for icing (mostly coffee cakes), which Luke insisted was essential. I found one or two, and then I ran into this. I'm usually against fat free vegan cooking (the fat is the best part!) but when Luke saw it, he was convinced that this was the cake for him---one of the hazards of having your sous-chef watch over your shoulder while you're planning the meal. We had the ingredients, so I made it.

It was, well, OK. I used honey, so it's not truly vegan (imagine the cruelty of making those poor little bees work for me!) but it was medium tasty and faintly blueberry-y. I topped it off with white frosting from a can mixed with blueberries, which made the cake much sweeter and more fruity, plus giving it a great purple topping.

The rest of the party was a success, from Amanda's card ("I hope we got you a nice present") to the copy of "Percy and the Dragon", the library book that Luke had everyone read to him over and over and over and over (hmmm, perhaps I shouldn't have gotten that one for him...). I am already missing my 3 year old, but I look forward to getting to know the 4 year old. I know he's excited to be on his way to being all grown up.

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