Baking with two

Before I had children I didn't really like to cook. It bored me, yet if I had company or a special occasion I liked to get in the kitchen and cook something elaborate. Although setting up the table and decorating for the meal fascinated me just as much. The everyday cooking during our marriage before children was actually left up to Carl most of the time. Ever since I had kids I have started to change my tune. There is something about having children that got me interested in eating healthy. Maybe it is because I wasn't taught the best eating habits as a child that I really want to encourage good and healthy eating in my own. So my children have turned me into a cook and baker.

We have several trips planned to the pumpkin patch so I thought I could use one of the pumpkins we got on Friday to make pumpkin bread. I thought it might be a good lesson for Erik on learning where food comes from in going from a pumpkin to bread. I promised him yesterday after his nap we would make the bread, but we were out of several ingredients so I had Carl go shopping last night and today we got to make our bread.

Cooking use to be something that just Erik and I did. It was our special activity, but sometime in the last month cooking its now an affair for three. At the same time my dynamic with Erik is changing as well. I am trying to let go and not worry too much about Erik making a big mess and by doing that he is showing me how much he can do by himself.

Believe it or not I can actually trust Erik to crack the eggs himself and he does a pretty good job. Of course there are shells in the bowl and one egg got cracked on the counter, but most of the time he does a fantastic job of getting the eggs in the mix.

Having two children at very different stages presents some interesting challenges while cooking. I want to start giving Erik more responsibility, yet Elliot wants it too and gets upset when he can't do the same things as his brother. Yet at the same time I do need to let go and allow Elliot to make a bit of a mess so he can learn in the same way his brother learned at that age.

The only reason my kids want to help me cook is because they get the lick the spoon after we are all done. They know it is going to happen every time and ask at every stage when I am done mixing if they can have one yet. I know that was my favorite part as a kid. 

 

One of the reasons we got to bake this morning is because it is raining so we can't go outside, also my kids are sick and had to miss school today. Due to his illness I let Erik watch a movie and this is what I found about half way through. I am not sure if either of my children have ever fallen asleep on a couch at home. It just doesn't work with our routines. Definitely a picture for the archives.