Baking, toddlers and Pixar...an evening of Magic.

Ahh... It's been a while since I've posted. It's not that I haven't experienced anything exciting; I'm just lazy. In fact, many, many exciting things have happened to me this month. For one, I just made zucchini bread with Xavier. This was the most fun I've had all day. I love to cook and bake and it turns out that Xavier had an exceptionally late nap today (4-6pm) which means that he was up late.

I sat him on our kitchen island and forbade him to move. I think he tends to listen to my instructions when he is in grave peril. He listened well, and remained in one place on his bum, lest he fall to his doom on the tile floor below.* I nestled a mixing bowl between his legs so he could mix the ingredients with his hands. I am absolutely shocked that he listened when I told him NOT to put whatever was in the bowl in his mouth. I was especially impressed with this after the addition of the chocolate chips. Way to go Xavier.

As I poured the batter into the loaf pan, he waved goodbye to it. Then I transferred the pan from the counter to the oven. At this point, Xavier cried as if I was pushing his friend into the fiery furnace. The torment on his face compelled me to turn the oven light on so he could see his friend baking. This comforted him somewhat, and he decided it was alright if we left the cake in the oven. Then we went to the living room to watch Disney-Pixar's "Cars."**

When the timer went off, we leapt off the couch to go find our friend the cake. I took it out of the oven, one hand on the cake, one hand holding Xavier back from the hot oven door (again, he listened very well. Does my son have a great sense of self preservation or what?) I closed the door and tested the cake for "doneness" by inserting a wooden skewer into the cake. Shit, not done. Yes, Xavier cried once again ever more desperately as I, once again, plunged his friend back into the oven. "Cake, cake, cake!" he cried. Poor boy.

Back to Cars. Fifteen minutes later the timer went off again and to our luck, the cake was done. Xavier was amazed at what had happened to the batter that we made. In fact I was amazed. I'm a great cook, and although I love to bake, my track record with baked confections is, let's say, a melange of goods utterly lacking in deliciousness. Since I've been married, however, my track record had increased from poor to good.

Xavier couldn't stand it anymore. He had to have a piece. We tucked into two slices of chocolate chip zucchini bread late a night and loved every minute of it. I knew this mother-son endeavour had succeeded the minute those little "mmm's" rose from his chest as he ate the bread.

We finished Cars, had some milk and I tucked Xavier into bed. This couldn't have been a more perfect night.




* as a side note, I would never, ever let my son fall. But I think allowing him this tiny freedom of sitting on the counter by himself gives him the tiniest sense of Independence. Responsible parenting? I think so.

**I think this is the twentieth time I've seen this movie this month. We're now trying to put Xavier on a "Pixar Rotation" in order to preserve our sanity. Tomorrow, Finding Nemo.