Fashionista

No, not any of the adults in this family.  FFM. And I'm not sure males are called fashionistas, but I couldn't come up with anything better. FFM loves clothes. Colorful, stylish, hip clothes. He knows the names of his favorite designers/brands and will always pick those shirts and pants before what he calls the 'plain' ones from Gymboree or Crazy 8. When the catalogs come he pours over them, pointing out the outfits he wants.

F outgrew pretty much all his long pants over the summer, blowing past those NWT ones I had stored from last year's end of season sales, and what do you suppose he asked for? All skinny colored jeans,no blue ones please Mom. His favorite pair right now? Teal. Followed by the red ones, the light red ones, and the golden ones (his words, not mine). Every shirt he picked out this fall was button down. He'd wear button down shirts with slacks every day if I'd agree to spring for that many 'fancy' shirts. (with a tie every few days just for kicks).

The dark side of all this, little boy shirts aren't usually made of that spiffy stain resistant/wrinkle resistant, looks great out of the dryer fabric that men's clothes are made of. Here is a sign of the depth of my love for my child:

I DETEST ironing. I had to do a fair bit of it as a youngster and as an adult I only iron if I REALLY REALLY have to. As soon as I started buying my own clothes I avoided anything that had to be ironed. Thus the true, bottomless love of a parent, I iron down the worst parts of his shirts. No starch. How long before he can afford dry cleaning?

F's Semi-Famous Hot Oat Pucks

This spring we made some adjustments to our food storage so FFM could easily reach and prepare meals on his own while I recuperated from hip surgery. I still avoid having him work with sharp knives and hot surfaces unsupervised, so it was tricky to figure out some of his favorites. He prefers to make his own breakfast a lot of the time, which is great since I'm not super chippy in the mornings. Thus F's Hot Oat Pucks were born.

 We keep a bag of these in the freezer and he can help himself and microwave a couple anytime.

F's Hot Oat Pucks
  4 C milk
  2.5 C water
  4 C regular oats
  1/4 C maple syrup (or sweetener of your choice or leave out if)
  2-3 T cinnamon
  1 C toasted chopped walnuts
  Raisins, Craisins, and/or frozen berries of your choice

Bring milk and water to a boil and add oats.  Cook about 5 minutes, or until your preferred consistency. Remove from heat. Add maple syrup and stir through. Add cinnamon, walnuts, and fruit and stir until well combined. Let cool for 5-10 minutes

Spray two 12-count muffin tins with cooking spray. Alternatively, use silicone and skip the spray. Fill cups all the way to the top with oat mixture. We have various sizes and I try to fill them so that the pucks will all end up about the same size. This means filling giant cups only halfway.

Place all your tins in the freezer for a few hours until totally frozen. To remove from a metal tin you may need to run a little warm water across the back of the tin. To remove from silicon pan simply pop out by pushing on the back of each cup. Put into a freezer bag and return to freezer.

When you are ready for Hot Oats, place 2 pucks into a 2C glass measuring cup and add a splash of water or milk (more if you like your oats runny). Heat for 2 min and 30 seconds for a 1000w microwave.  To serve F's favorite way, tip into a bowl and add 3 generous spoonfuls of yogurt and stir.  Yum!

I don't usually sweeten his oats, so I don't always put in the maple syrup. Sometimes I have smooshy bananas around and I mix them in at the end, too. Nuts go in when I have them handy, and if you're an adult you might like to add half a teaspoon or so of salt for your palette.