Blueberry muffins

blueberry muffins

I want to be a fun mom. I want to let Annabelle help me bake cookies, and not get annoyed that she begs to crack the eggs when I KNOW that she's not big enough to crack the eggs. I want to let my kids play outside and actually play WITH them, rather than sit in the shade and complain about the heat and the bugs and the dirt and everything that is fun about playing outside. I want to take my kids to play at the park without thinking about the impending meltdown that is sure to come when I announce that it is time to leave...
but I am not that kind of mom. I am a complainer. A "do-it-myselfer". A boring mom.

But every now and then, I let "fun mom" out of her closet to paint with Bella, or to let Julian play with his food, cramming bananas and mashed potatoes into his ears and nose, or, like yesterday, letting Bella make blueberry muffins.

I got the magic blueberry muffin box out of the pantry. (i told boring mom to shut up, b/c she was complaining about the unhealthy ingredients in a muffin mix, and the health benefits of homemade muffins, complete with whole wheat flour, oatmeal and real blueberries...but today is "fun mom's" day)

Bella saw the picture on the box and started doing the happy dance. She pulled her chair from the table to the counter and immediately started asking to help. She poured the ingredients from the measuring cups into the big bowl. She stirred the batter with a spatula. She lined the muffin tin with scooby doo cupcake papers. And then she licked that spatula until it was clean enough to put back into the silverware drawer (but fun mom is not that lazy, she washed it first)

When 9 to 13 minutes were up, we waited (very impatiently) for the muffins to be cool enough to not scald our sensitive rooftops and then chowed down. Julian was so excited, sitting in his high chair, covered in blueberry mash. Bella was so so proud, saving a muffin for Amy and Tata, even calling Tata at work to announce the treat that awaited her at home.

By the end of the day, there was one lone muffin in the tin. I had planned on saving it for Dustin who would be home that evening. I wanted him to see Bella's creation. But sneaky little fingers pulled a chair to the counter, unwrapped the scooby doo paper and ate 3/4 of the muffin, before I caught her.

"Bella, I wanted to save that muffin to show Daddy what you made."

She was ashamed. She forgot to save one for Daddy, but they were just too good. When Daddy got home, she handed him the scooby doo paper and the remaining muffin crumbs and said, "Daddy, I made muffins today. This one is for you. Is it okay if I eat it?"

Daddy, who is "fun daddy" all of the time, said, "Bella, that muffin looks SO yummy. You did a good job making them. It's okay, you can eat mine."

Fun Mommy AND Boring Mommy, were both very very happy.

posted by mindi11 @ 7/02/2005 11:47:00 PM