Ben turns 1

Ben’s birthday was July 18^th.  We had some American friends, Matt and Kristen, and some Italian friends, Salvatore and Valentina, over to see Ben eat his cake.  I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and sprinkles.  I was able to find a box of cake mix, but I had to make the icing from scratch from butter, powdered sugar, and chocolate chips.  The cake was a little dry (Italian cakes tend to be more light and crumbly instead of dense and moist – or maybe I baked them too long), but I was really proud of how the icing turned out.

 

 

 

 We had some antipasti and played with Ben.  Tim and I gave him a ride-on truck and a rocking moose.  Our friends brought balloons, a fun book, and a cute little outfit.  We sang him happy birthday in Italian and English. 

 

Then we gave him the cupcake.  He wasn’t too sure about it at first, because his healthy mom had never given him anything like that before.  But, he stuck his finger in the icing and tasted it.  Of course he loved it and went back in for several more finger licks. 

 We took a family photo before things got too crazy, but I did end up with chocolate all over my face.

 Finally he picked it up and squeezed it in his little hands, and it fell into pieces all over him.  This was a good strategy on his part, because then he could easily put it in his mouth.  But, I guess the cake wasn’t as good as the icing, and being past his bedtime, he got tired pretty quickly after that.

 The riding truck and rocking moose that we got him.