MADELEINE: And Mama? When you bake the cake, can I do EVERYTHING, epsept YOU do it first? Well, I can do everything EPSEPT the things that are not safe for kids.
So while Madeleine finished up her lunch, I did the things that are not safe for kids; namely, cracking the eggs, and melting the butterscotch chips. Madeleine, afraid she was going to miss out on the part that IS safe for kids, started taking inventory of how much lunch she had left to finish before joining me.
MADELEINE: Five more apples, Mama!
ME: Okay!
MADELEINE: I'm BRAIN-COUNTING. That's how I know I have five apples. But Mama? Can Julia count with her brain?
ME: Yes, she can.
MADELEINE: I know she can WHISPER with her brain. Because...when she's BRAIN-COUNTING, I hear her whisper: "One, two, three, four, five..."
ME: Oh, really?
MADELEINE: Mama. Can YOU brain-count?
ME: I can.
MADELEINE: Okay. Look at how many apples I have left. Count with your BRAIN.
ME: Okay. Three.
MADELEINE: Wow! Mama, how did you brain count so FAST?
ME: Well, I've been counting for a long time so I'm pretty good at it.
MADELEINE: Well Mama. I know what you WOULDN'T be fast at brain-counting. All of the LEAVES on the trees outside!
ME: Yeah, you're right. That would be too hard to do.
MADELEINE: Mama. Look at how fast I can do brain-counting...(silence) Ugghh, never mind, it's too hard to brain-count all the bricks. I kept FORGETTING if I already counted that one or not.
These are the bricks Madeleine was trying to impress me with by brain-counting:
I would say that was a bit TOO ambitious on her part. I'm not even sure I could brain-count those bricks quickly.
Madeleine was soon able to join me in the baking, and she had all kinds of interesting comments to make about the various ingredients.
About the canned pumpkin:
MADELEINE: Woah! That looks like PUMPKIN!
This kid can't get any more astute in her observations.
About the vanilla:
MADELEINE: Wow. That looks like COFFEE!
About the flour, sugar and baking powder combo:
MADELEINE: Mama? Is there any OTHER white ingredients that are even WHITER than these ingredients that we get to use??
About the eggs:
MADELEINE: Eeeewww! You put RAW EGGS in it??
I'm not really sure how hard-boiled eggs would taste in a cake. Maybe we can try that next time we bake. But since this one is for Julia's birthday party, I'm gonna stick with the tried-and-true raw eggs in the batter.
Madeleine proved to be a great baking helper, not only pouring in ingredients, but doing a super job stirring the ingredients together. Of course, we both needed to taste an ample amount of batter, *just* to make sure everything tasted right.
The baking part was tough for Madeleine to wait through; starting about fifteen minutes into the 45 minute long baking process, Madeleine was asking me if the timer buzzed yet. When I told her it hadn't nearly been enough time, she encouraged me to "just open the oven and CHECK to see if it looks like a cake yet!" But at long last, the cake was fully baked, and it sits cooling in the kitchen now. Next up is making the icing so that we can frost the cake once it's cool. I think Madeleine will be SUPER excited to see that we're using a really, really white ingredient as one of our main elements of the frosting: confectioner's sugar! I don't know if ingredients get much whiter than that!!
Ta-daaa! Fully baked, and "looking like a cake"! Icing to come later!
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