Bake it, Girl!

When Caleb was small I was braver. I had more time. I was able to give more one-on-one attention (i.e. two hands to one little boy). Plus, I could control the mess and had time to clean it up. 

With my second child, things have been a bit different. After she was born, there were two people to keep up with (and now three). Things I tried before, I hesitated to jump into for lack of control. However, now that my daughter is getting older, I want to take a few more risks and make messy memories with Hadley too. 

For that reason, this past Saturday, I decided it was time to teach her how to bake a cake.

Normally, her older brother is my kitchen helper, but I think it's high time that Hadley had a chance to try her hand at baking too. When the thought crossed my mind to take on this fun activity with her, Caleb was napping so I knew he wouldn't be trying to get in on the action and it would be a special time with just her. 

A little oil and a little water...

She was excited to add the eggs. I had to catch her though because she didn't know they needed to be cracked open first. It's a learning experience!

She watched carefully as I dinged them on the side of the bowl and opened them to let the clear and yellow contents ooze from the shell. 

Hadley didn't want to stir the mixture. Instead she wanted to fling it on the floor and play. There were a few meltdowns as we battled for control.

She looks super cute with the spatula but the mixing wasn't getting done. I pulled out my mixer to blend the ingredients well, but Hadley was a bit timid when she heard what a loud noise it made.

Daddy scolded her for trying to pick up the cake since she was about to scoot it right off the counter on to the floor. Miss Sensitive was pretty distressed that she'd been fussed at. Mommy  let her help me lift as I was about to put it in the oven though and the waterworks turned off pretty quickly.

Here is the finish product. It's not the prettiest cake ever but we ate it up nonetheless and had our special bonding time which is the most important part.

YUM!