S'mores Pie, Guinea Pigs and a Baby Talks to a Chair

I have to confess that I haven't been doing anything special the last few weeks.  Amusing a baby has been pretty high on the list.  She's 8 months old now, and mobile, which is keeping me on my toes! 

I never expected that I would have to fish a tiny human from out beneath my coffee table multiple times a day when I started this adventure.  She's currently at my feet, talking to her bouncy chair.  I don't know why, since the chair doesn't answer - it just sits there, as chairs are wont to do.  Even if the chair did talk, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't understand what "Nabamana!!" means.

That being said, she's now started to communicate to us, which has been lovely.  She can wave hello (amusingly, she'll wave hello to the guinea pigs, who just look at her & wait to see if she'll give them some lettuce), raises her arms to indicate she wants up, and she can do the sign for milk when she wants to nurse.  I'm hoping the next sign she learns is the one for diaper!

Speaking of the guinea pigs, here's a photo of Princess taking a nap on top of her cuddle sack.

When we adopted the girls, they both had a severe guinea pig mite infestation, but Princess had a worse reaction by far.  Half of her hair had fallen out, and she had scratched herself raw.  She now has immune-system based spot baldness but is otherwise healthy.  I think she looks like a little sheep.

This is her cagemate, Rosie.

Rosie is my cuddle-pig.  She's a squishy ball of cuddly fur.  She currently has ovarian cysts, but our vet is doing a bang-up job of treating her.

On the baking end of things, I've been doing more lately.  I'm semi-regularly making bread, and cookies.  This weekend I'm having some people over, and I had a bit of a spree.  The thing I'm most excited about is the S'mores Pie*.  It was super-easy, and should be delicious!

To make your own S'mores Pie, you need a few simple ingredients.
1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine
1 packet chocolate pudding mix
milk to make the pudding (usually 2 cups)
1 to 2 cups whipped cream
mini marshmallows

1. Mix the graham cracker crumbs & melted butter together and then press into a 9" pie pan.  Make sure it gets up the sides, as this is your crust.
2.  Make the pudding.  Fold in the whipped cream and then pour into your graham pie crust.
3. Top with mini marshmallows.  Make sure you get a good layer of them on there.
4. Put the pie in the fridge for at least an hour so the chocolate mousse can set.  My pie is currently in the fridge overnight.
5. Once the filling has set, put the pie under the broiler of the oven just long enough for the marshmallows to get nice & toasty.

If you wanted to do something less reliant on already partially processed foods, you could make a chocolate custard or a from-scratch chocolate mousse for the filling.  You could even go so far as to make your own marshmallows, but that becomes a bit of a multi-day project.

I'm tempted to try this pie again, but to coat the bottom of the pie with a layer of dulche de leche or caramel, just to up the ante a little.  What do you think?

* You all know what a s'more is right?  Just in case: you toast a marshmallow over a campfire (hoping that you don't set it on fire accidentally), and then sandwich it with a piece of chocolate between two graham crackers and hope you don't burn your tongue when you take your first gooey bite.