When I first found out I was pregnant I knew I wanted a boy! There is a photo of me crying out of pure joy with a little sign that says “It’s A Boy!” I had heard it was hard to raise boys when they are young, but harder to raise girls in the teen years. I’m sort of a tomboy in disguise so I didn’t need any prissy girl roaming around the house. BOY, oh BOY… I got what I asked for. My boy is a ruff and tumble lad who has very little fear installed in his heart. He does things on a daily basis that make me cringe. He’ll take a spill and immediately follow it with “I’m okay!” Meanwhile I’m holding my breath on the verge of a heart attack and tears. Rarely does he cry, and if he does I know it must be bad.

With the ending of the school year and summer walking through our lives I know there are going to lots of active moments that may be met with scrapes and bruises. Instead of waiting for them to happen I’m gonna prepare myself now. I made a list of everything I need. Ointments, band-aids, gauze, hydrogen peroxide, and baby aspirin. I already cleaned out my medicine cabinet of old outdated meds to make room for my personal Summer first aid kit. Here’s the catch, my son Max gets uneasy whenever I have to tend to an open wound. He’d rather I leave it alone and allow it to scab up solo. We all know that’s not gonna happen. I figured out a method that works really well for me. PALETAS! I hand him a paleta and that gets his mind off the cut at hand. I combined a few of his favorite flavors to make something that will ease the pain and the heat of summer.

Ingredients for strawberry banana horchata paletas:

• Fresh strawberries (sliced)
• Banana (cut into wedges)
• Horchata (store bought)
• Popsicle mold
• Popsicle sticks

Directions:

1. Drop a few pieces of strawberries and banana into the Popsicle mold.
2. Pour in horchata to reach the top. 
3. Top mold with cover and insert Popsicle sticks.
4. Freeze overnight.
5. Fill basin with warm water and dip mold into water for 15 seconds to loosen from mold.
6. Pull straight up toward sky on paleta. 
7. Eat This Now!