dirt pudding (with two worms, please)

I love being a mom, and I love the different qualities both of my boys have.  To be so close, they are extremely diverse in their likes and dislikes, their interests, and... yes... the food they prefer.

My youngest, Luke, just celebrated his 8th birthday at the end of September.  Since he could talk, he's had very specific requests for his birthday treats, each of them different.  The child has a sweet tooth like no one's business, and his eyes literally glaze over at the first glimpse of his Friday morning donut we pick up on the way in to school each week.  More than once, I've watched him in the rearview mirror pulling it out of the sack and whispering, "Come to Papa."

No joke.

Weeks in advance of this year's birthday, he was going through his calculated list of dessert choices and finally decided on Dirt Pudding.  But it couldn't be just any dirt pudding.  It had to be vanilla and chocolate with two worms, one sour and one plain gummy, to satisfy any friends who might not like sour.  The following is the recipe I came up with.

At three o'clock in the morning of his birthday, he woke up, and woke me up, to see how far I'd gotten with the pudding and how it turned out.  His anxiety about them started making me anxious, I have to say.  But as I carried them into the cafeteria for him to pass Vaout to his classmates, his face told all.  There was no question he was 100% satisfied, and any hesitation I had melted.  There is no greater feeling than knowing your child is happy, as long as they're happy for the right reasons.  And if all it takes is 14 cups of dirt pudding with two worms, I'm one blessed mom.

Happy Birthday, my dear Luke!

Dirt Pudding - makes 12 servings
Ingredients:

• 2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant French Vanilla pudding mix
• 2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant Chocolate pudding mix
• 6 cups cold milk
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 2 (14 ounce) packages Oreo-type cookies, crushed (divided)
• 1 package sour gummy worms (optional)
• 1 package regular gummy worms (optional)

~ Whisk French Vanilla pudding mix with three cups of milk in large bowl until softly set, 
    about 2 minutes.  Do the same with the Chocolate and remaining milk.  Puddings will 
    thicken as they stand.
~  Cream sugar, cream cheese, and butter in a separate bowl until smooth and creamy and 
     stir mixture into puddings until thoroughly combined.
~  Gently fold frozen whipped topping into the mixture.
~  Layer cookie crumbs, Vanilla pudding, cookie crumbs, Chocolate pudding, Vanilla 
     pudding, and top with cookie crumbs, in that order.
~ Add worms.

Recipe adapted from All Recipes.