The Mother's Day Cake

It was a rainy morning and rather quiet for a Saturday. Trevor was at a birthday party, Michaela was at camp certification, and Jeremiah was at school. We really needed something to do so I suggested to Anthony and Natalie that they make a cake for Mother's Day. They jumped at the idea and with me monitoring and supervising they soon had the "saucy apple swirl cake" in the oven. It cooled and came out of the pan perfectly so the next step was to mix up the glaze to go on top. After the cake cooled some more Anthony and Natalie each took turns drizzling powdered sugar glaze on their masterpiece. The cake looked so beautiful and delicious and Anthony and Natalie were quite proud of themselves.

Anthony, Natalie, Abigail, and Emersynne each got a taste of the leftover glaze and we talked about how yummy this special cake was going to taste when we enjoyed it tomorrow. I then hurried upstairs to change Emersynne's stinky diaper and get her down for her nap, leaving Abigail to finish her lunch. Halfway though the diaper change I realized that it was really quiet downstairs and started having visions of Abigail choking on her apple. Feeling like a terrible mother for leaving her downstairs alone to finish eating, I quickly got Emersynne in her crib and headed downstairs to find Abigail.

Why do children always have that look? That look that means they have been doing something they knew they shouldn't have been doing. Abigail had that look on her face and had her hands tucked behind her back.

"Are you ready for your nap?," I asked

"First I have to wash my hands." she said.

Abigail then pulled her hands around to the front and they were covered in a sticky mess. When I asked her what it was from she paused and then said, "it from the cake."

The masterpiece that Anthony and Natalie had worked so long on was ruined!

I guess Abigail couldn't resist the yummy taste of the glaze and when we had all gone upstairs and left the cake unguarded she climbed up on a chair and using her fingers, licked off all the glaze and even went as far to sample a bit of cake. There was a big chunk missing!

There was no way to salvage the cake. Abigail's germs were all over it! Gross! This is the child that has just gotten over diarrhea and four days of fever. The cake was dumped in the trash as we explained to Abigail that she had ruined the cake and now nobody could eat it.

Abigail was sent to bed crying. She knew she was in trouble. She knew mommy was upset with her. She knew Anthony and Natalie were mad at her for ruining the cake they "spent hours working on" (as they will point out).

It makes me wonder what was going through her little head. Did she think nobody would notice that the icing was all gone? Did she think nobody would notice that there was a big chunk of cake missing? It reminded me of the time my mom bought a flat of strawberries to make jam with. I really wanted to eat some but my mom said "No!" I remember standing in front of the flat of strawberries and thinking with my three year old brain that if I took a strawberry to eat my mom would know one was missing. So I came up with the brilliant plan to take a bite out of each strawberry and nobody would ever know. That was when I realized that my mom was really smart. Somehow she knew what I had done and I got in BIG trouble! Don't really remember what my punishment was though.

Poor Abigail wouldn't get any cake if another one was made. Harsh punishment, but seemed like a good way to follow through.

This afternoon while Abigail, Emersynne, and I were napping Jeremiah and the kids made a scrumptious chocolate cake from scratch with tasty chocolate frosting. They topped it off by serving it with cherry pie filling. Abigail was talking about how yummy it looked so I reminded her that she didn't get any. I was expecting a big screaming fit but she handled it quite well. She chose to sit up at the table with us while we had cake and just when I thought she was taking it all so well she quietly said, "my tummy really hurts, so.....I guess I need some cake to help it feel better." We all laughed but she didn't get any cake.

Abigail survived the ordeal and doesn't seem scarred for life by her punishment of not getting any cake, Anthony and Natalie now laugh at the story of their sister ruining their cake, and I was reminded that my own mother is really really smart. Maybe some day my own children will think that of me!

Happy Mother's Day!