love + merriment = family: not your ol'easy bake

stirring the ingredients at her big girl table (carrot cake prep).

most of us ladies remember easy bake ovens. there seems to be something innate the comes into play in most cases, between the interests of boys and girls and their loves of tractors versus dollies. although at evia's age, it seems being in the kitchen is loved by all babies, regardless of gender. after all mama spends so much time in there, what's she doing above that high counter? the stool has become our good friend, as evia peers up and over the sink, "helps" with dishes - finds things to grab and mama to swipe away. i find myself constantly repositioning her to keep her safe. as much as i try to include her in the kitchen, she wants more. more mama time or more kitchen time? i'm not sure - but i'm eager to work on both. (re-reading this i sound so 1950's...mama's in the kitchen boys and girls liking wheels vs. dresses...i'm generalizing here, obviously).

i woke up and instantly decided to bake a cake with evia sometime during our day together. she's only ever tasted cake once at her 1st birthday. but mama has become a little more relaxed with letting her try things with sugar. she only gets tasters and it's pretty tasty stuff! so with the carrots we had on hand and the recipe my mom's been baking since the 70's that she passed along to me as part of her personal recipe collection, i decided to give carrot cake a whirl. after my sweet woke up from her nap, i asked her "would you like to bake a cake with mama?" she, i think unsure of what she was agreeing to, answered with an enthusiastic "yes." (or maybe she does know what cakes are, as she shows me everyday she knows things i had no idea she knew).

substitutes don't always work out (and with all the substituting i did with this recipe, this one definitely didn't look pretty in the end), but boy did we have fun! we got flour on the face, i spilled some batter on her head, we stole a bite hot out of the oven - it was such a great activity together! on a side note, i brought all the ingredients, measuring cups, bowls etc down to her big-girl table and made it super user friendly - she could reach it all. she was happy stirring, for most of the ingredient prep and i was able to throw it all together. papa was pretty happy too, when he came home that evening and there was a cake with no official purpose.

sometimes there is no good reason to bake a cake other than to eat it!