I've Been Waiting for This Day for Over Two Years

Yesterday was wretched. It snowed for about twenty-four hours straight and we all decided it was a very good day to stay indoors...and bake Valentine cookies. A mere moments into this endeavour I realized that this day, February 9th, was the day I've been waiting for for more than two years.

I asked Maggie if she would like to help me bake some cookies and she indicated that she would be happy to. So I got out all the ingredients and started reading her the recipe while she listened patiently. She helped me mix the dry ingredients, and then the wet. She listened intently while I explained why we scrape the bowl and when to add the dry to the wet. We were making sugar cookie cut-outs, and when everything was mixed together I gave her a disc of dough to put in the fridge but she said, "No Mama," and showed me that it really should go in the oven. Smarty-pants.

Later that afternoon, after the dough had chilled we took it out to roll. Maggie had her own little pink roller, and her own small chunk of dough. She rolled, and rolled, and rolled. She complained that the roller was "Dirty!" when I spread flour on it to prevent sticking. When we were ready to put some of the cookies in the oven I leaned over the recipe and said, "OK Maggie, looks like we have to put these in the oven for seven minutes." Every five minutes or so after that Maggie leaned over the recipe and shouted, "Mama, Mama! Seven minutes!"

I honestly can't believe how closely she was watching me and paying attention. Aside from the "Seven minutes!", she mimicked every time I turned my dough, every time I switched cookie cutters, it was pretty awesome.

So let me explain why I've been waiting for this day. Days like these are the days I think of most fondly from my childhood. Craft days, baking days, days when I was helping my Mama do something new and interesting. Since I found out I was having a girl I have dreamed of teaching her how to bake cookies. It's just one of those things I had always hoped to experience with my daughter, the same way I remember experiencing it with my Mom, full of love, patience and pride. One of the best days of my life.

This morning Maggie wanted to make cookies again and was a little ticked off when I told her we couldn't make cookies every day. She was consoled though when she got to eat one of the fruits of yesterday's labor... and by "eat" I really mean "suck off all the icing and throw the cookie away."