"i wanna make it!"

i really haven't been cooking a lot and baking certainly isn't something i do unless i have to, but baby girl's favorite thing as of late has been helping me "make it" in the kitchen.  today i made corn bread for our ward trunk or treat tonight and also cupcakes and frosting to contribute to the cake walk the young women were running (actually, the young women were put in charge of organizing and running ALL of the games... sooo glad that's over and done with now!) and baby girl kept pushing a chair all over the kitchen repeating "i wanna make it!  i wanna help mommy make it!" and it simultaneously melted my heart and drove me crazy.  

she helped me make this apple crisp (i cut down the white sugar by more than half and it was still a little sweet for me but otherwise delectable) thursday night and it wasn't too bad because i was just making it for us and there were no raw ingredients in it so when she snuck bites, it was just sugared apple slices.  today though, i made cornbread and while it was cooling, she tried to grab at it and i may have taken a beautiful 9x13 pan of cornbread to our chili cook off tonight that had a tiny little abigail sized handprint in it.  wish i'd remembered to take a picture of it.  and the cupcakes and frosting (again, only used half the sugar called for and it was plenty) from this afternoon turned out difficult because she wanted to help so badly that she wouldn't eat her lunch.  i kept telling her she could help if she just ate first but she was too impatient and eventually she went down for nap with no lunch and no cupcake or frosting stirring.  i think i was more sad than she was.  it was one of those moments that made me think of heavenly father and parenting.  i was so frustrated because it would have been so easy for her to just eat her sandwich and then help me cook but she refused to listen even though i'm positive she understood the concept.  i couldn't help but think to myself, "sorry heavenly father... i'm sure i frustrate you just like this every. single. day."  i have so much to learn about being a good parent and an obedient child and it's just weird that i'll be learning those things simultaneously for the rest of eternity.

so really, while it can sometimes make things a little more challenging, i find it so exciting and flattering that baby girl has taken an interest in this!  maybe i'll have to make more of an effort to make muffins and stuff so she can help me... even if it is just stirring and looking in the oven.  she loves it and i love feeding into the things she shows special interest in.  it's so cute.

 

 

 

 

 

she totally pushed the chair to the oven door (the light was already on) and grabbed the oven mitt and glove on her own.  i just took the pictures.  because really, how could you not?!  my favorite though was earlier when she was helping me make pumpkin seeds (i wanted them so bad i told honey i needed them and he said "hmm, want me to just go cut one open so you can make some seeds for us?"  ha, yes please.  so we have a scraped out, non-carved pumpkin on our front porch).  baby girl had pulled up the chair and was looking in and i saw her trying to reach up to open the door.  i suspiciously asked her what she was doing and she instantly slid her arms down and said "i'm knockin" as she started knocking on the oven window.  it made me laugh.  good save baby girl.  way to cover up.