Independent Baker
With Aaron's schedule changing this week at work, Kiera and I have been cooking dinner. I used to cook a lot, but Aaron enjoys cooking, so most nights he had kind of taken over cooking.
When I bought groceries I didn't really think about his shift change and I bought several items to be cooked out on the grill. This will come back into play shortly.
Sunday afternoon, Kiera and I baked a red velvet cake. Well, actually, Kiera baked it and I supervised. We left it to cool so that it could be shaped into a heart later, per Kiera's request. The plan was to wait a bit and then make the homemade cream cheese icing.
That night, I stared into the refrigerator at the only thing that was thawed out... the hamburger patties.
Kiera pranced into the kitchen, headphones attached to her ears, and peeked behind me into the refrigerator. "Oooh! Are we having Hawaiian burgers?" She asked excitedly.
Straightening my shoulders, I replied, "Why, yes, we are."
"Can I start making the icing for the cake?" She asked.
Taking a deep breath, I nodded my consent. "Let me start the grill and then I will help you."
I went out on the deck and lit the grill. I am actually a pro at that part of the grilling process. Ok... pro might be a slight stretch...
Stepping back inside, I helped Kiera gather all the ingredients for the icing. She quickly began to measure and mix as I alternated from checking on the grill to watching her.
I avoided cringing as she lifted the electric beater and it slung a tiny bit of cream cheese icing onto the counter.
After tasting the icing, she began to drop it onto the cake in little blobs.
"Honey. Can I show you an easier way?" I asked, holding my hand out for the spatula.
Sighing deeply, she handed the spatula over. I resisted rolling my eyes.
"I'm not taking over. I just want to show you one quick thing." I explained as I showed her how to get more icing on the spatula before handing it back over.
"I have to go check the grill," I stated. "Are you good?"
"Mom. I've got this." She responded without looking up.
I started the hamburger meat on the grill and came back in to find that we had not made enough icing. Inwardly, I panicked as I thought about supervising the making of icing and trying to cook on the grill.
"I can do this. Go take care of the hamburgers." Kiera stated. "I know how to make it."
I realized in that moment that I had to let her have her moment. "Ok," I responded as I took a step back. "Do you remember the ingredients and the measurements?"
She rattled the list off as she began to once again measure them out and I made my way back outside to ponder when is a good time to flip a burger.
On one of my quick trips into the house to grab the thermometer, Kiera stopped me.
"Mom. Where are the icing bags?" She asked.
"I... ummm..." I glanced around the kitchen that looked like a powdered sugar bomb had gone off and started to discourage her from making a possibly even bigger mess. Then I looked at her face.
She had powdered sugar on her face, icing all over her shirt, but she was beaming. At that moment, I realized the mess did not matter. She was enjoying being independent, baking, experimenting, and creating her masterpiece.
I hastily grabbed an icing bag and tip out of the cabinet and handed them off to her before heading back outside to my slightly-done-on-one-side patties.
Roughly thirty minutes later I came back in the house, minus one hamburger patty and two pineapple slices sacrificed to the grill and found a very tired but happy child.
"Wait!" She exclaimed as I walked into the kitchen. "Don't look yet!"
I turned my back to her until she was ready.
"Ok! Turn around!" She stated enthusiastically.
"Wow. Baby." I said as I stepped closer to her creation. "I can't believe you did all that."
"Well, I was going to do a few swirly dots of icing on the top but then decided I wanted to do them all over." She responded proudly. "Oh... and my feet hurt." I laughed before snapping a few pictures off of her cake.
"I'm very proud of you," I said, hugging her to me. "Very, very proud."
Rowonna McNeely her husband, Aaron are regular volunteers in the community, and have their hands full with their daughter, Kiera, along with three dogs and one cat.
Thank you for sharing in our weekly journeys. If you have missed any of our past stories, check out our blog page at www.lifea2k.net or drop us a line at lifea2k@yahoo.com.