Grinch Cupcakes

These Grinch Cupcakes are sure to make even the Grinchiest smile! They are so easy and completely adorable!

There are a lot of really fun and adorable things about todders. Potty training is not one of them.

Lucy has been fairly late to the potty training game. I have heard of many a toddler who has been completely trained by the 2 1/2 mark, but that has not been the case around here. Lucy has had zero interest in peeing anywhere but all over herself until fairly recently.

As a mom, it’s hard not to beat yourself up about that. I see all these toddlers much younger than my daughter obediently being shepherded to the big potty and the only thing I can console myself with is that thought that maybe Lucy doesn’t care because she’s too busy using her time and energy mentally planning her future career in law, medicine, or quantum physics. I mean, there is only so much of her to go around and it has to be used wisely.

I was quite relieved about a month ago, when Lucy finally decided to start using the toilet. Not that changing diapers particularly bothers me, but they are expensive and also, all the show-offs. Every time someone brags to me about how their 1 1/2 year old POTTY TRAINED HIMSELF (he just led me to the toilet and that was IT!!) or I read an article that swears that potty training in ONE WEEKEND is totally doable, I want to stab that person with something. Not like a machete or anything, I mean…I am obviously not a savage. Just like a bobby pin with that little cushioney thing ripped off or maybe the pointy end of my teasing comb. Enough to cause slight discomfort, but not enough to put me in jail.

Surprisingly, potty training went fairly easy. Lucy had a couple of accidents on the first day, then went to preschool and stayed dry all day every day. What a breeze! Except…

Except for the poop.

My child will not poop in the toilet. It’s maddening. There are times that I have taken her to pee and then she pooped herself 10 minutes later. I have tried everything, from putting her in the corner, threatening to make her clean it up herself (admittedly NOT one of my finer moments), and bribing. I have pretended to cry. I have begged. I have demeaned myself in a million ways, running her to the toilet every time I hear her let the tiniest fart (IT MIGHT BE A POOP PRECURSOR, YOU NEVER KNOW), but never as much as one humiliating afternoon.

It started off like a normal day. Ate breakfast, ate a second breakfast, surfed Facebook while pretending to “work”…the usual. And then I smelled it. Frustrated, I brought Lucy to the bathroom to make her sit on the toilet and let me clean her up.

As I pulled her Bubble Guppy underwear down, it happened. A large, lone turd rolled out of her underwear, landing on the tile floor with a soft thud. Our adorable puppy Bee, ever the opportunist, darted out before I even understood what was happening, grabbing it in her mouth and running down the hall.

Lucy stood there on her little stool in front of the toilet, underwear around her knees, poop smeared on her thighs, screaming. And in that moment, I knew that I had a defining choice to make. Do I chase the dog? Or do I tend to my upset child?

Well as it would happen, I had had my carpets steam cleaned two days prior. So I chased the dog, where (THANKFULLY!! THANKFULLY) I found the sad turd abandoned in the hall on the hardwood floor. Poor Bee. Turns out that it was not the tasty morsel that she had anticipated.

How is this my life? Why do our children insist on ruining us so? WHEN WILL ALL THE POOP GO AWAY?

I have questions, friends. I have questions.

And also, I have these adorable cupcakes. I know we’ve been talking about poop. And I’m sorry about that. But you’re just going to have to compartmentalize. It’s part of the process.

How fun are these little guys? They’re one of my favorite things to come out of my kitchen in quite some time, and they are totally doable for any of you!!

The little Grinchy Eyes couldn’t be simpler. A yellow andy melt and two mini M&Ms.

Just cut in half, flip to the flat side, and attach M&Ms in the center with a bit of melted almond bark.

Arrange on cupcakes that have been frosted with green buttercream, like so.

Insert a lollipop or popsicle stick (trim the stick if it’s too tall) and push a strawberry with the stem trimmed off, onto the stick, top down.

Push a mini marshmallow into the top.

You’re done, you’re done!

You can use any cupcake and buttercream recipe for these — I used a white cake mix colored with green food coloring (fancy, I know) and THIS buttercream recipe (minus the sprinkles and subbing 2 tsp vanilla for the buttery vanilla emulsion). Feel free to use whatever you like!

Enjoy and have a great day!