Another simple, yet unforgettable day

Today was an unusually stressful and tiresome workday for me. As Aly and I pulled into the garage late this afternoon, I have to admit the words that were beginning to creep out of my exhausted mouth were, " Aly, do you want to pick a movie?" But before I could say anything she said in an excited little voice, "Cook in Mommy's kitchen?" It was almost as if she had made her own plans for how we would spend our evening and was just now sharing them with me. "Wear my apron?" she asked. "Do you want to cook in Aly's kitchen?" I said, hoping she would take the bait and pretend-cook in her pretend-kitchen. "No, cook in Mommy's kitchen," she repeated. When we walked through the door, she ran over and grabbed our mother-daughter matching aprons that my mom got us for my birthday. "Mommy, here's your apron. I'll get the cinnamon!"Aly knows her mommy well. I put cinnamon in everything. How could I even think of saying no?

I frantically searched through the pantry trying to find something easy to bake or we were going to have to commit to something from scratch like we usually do. (I've tried slice-n-bake cookie dough. She requires the dumping of multiple ingredients into a bowl and continuous mixing.) I found a package of banana nut muffin mix that only needed milk and as I glanced at the brown bananas in our fruit bowl, I knew we were in business. Aly and I try to cook together at least once a week. I do most of the work and again, leave the ingredient dumping and mixing to her. Today I decided to let her have free reign. I got her started and then let her tell me what she wanted to add. Then I let her do it. It was amazing to watch.

She mashed her bananas (she's a pretty experienced banana masher), flung the mix all over the cabinet as she dumped it into the bowl, decided it needed cinnamon and sprinkled to her heart's content, grabbed the sugar canister and asked me to open it, added a reasonable amount of sugar, and then asked me as she mixed it all together, "Mommy, where's the 'nilla?" (Yes, "vanilla"! She's a true little Racheal Ray in the making.)

(Notice the overflowing cup in the middle. She was very concerned about it and kept saying, "that one is too big!" When they came out of the oven it was obviously the biggest one. When Daddy got home and asked for one, that was the one she chose for him!)


When she was done, she put all of the muffin cups in the tin and then scooped every bit of the batter into the cups herself. This is a step I would normally never let her do, but it made her day. When she finished she said, "Put it in the oven!"

While we were waiting for the muffins to bake, Aly decided she wanted me to braid her hair. Now I was REALLY in heaven!! I usually have to beg her to let me put braids in her hair. It was like she was returning the favor of letting her cook by asking me to do something she knows I love to do!

She is always proud of the goodies we make together, but she had a little extra twinkle in her eyes tonight when she really felt like she was the cook and I was the helper. She ate four of them and asked for more. I let her spoil her dinner. It was all so worth it. I'm so glad I didn't convince her to "pick a movie" instead of spending this time with her. I am hoping this sweet memory will serve as a constant reminder to pay attention to all of her little suggestions, drop what I am doing to be a good mom, and that she is capable of so much more than I give her credit for. Her confidence and self-worth grew a little bit today as she shook that cinnamon. I fell in love with her a little bit more as I watched her do it.