Birthday brick

One of Greta's favorite things lately is working in the kitchen with Mommy or Daddy. Last week we washed dishes together, with her standing on a step stool. Today, she did something better: pushed a kitchen chair over to the counter so she could easily stand up and bake blueberry muffins with Mommy. When the muffins went into the oven, Greta pitched a mini-fit, so Mommy decided they'd bake a cake -- from scratch. But not a real cake. Greta got to pick the ingredients. They started with some flour, no need to measure anything, added a cup or two of water, stirred it into a paste, emptied the sugar bowl into the mix, and added a packet of Quaker Oatmeal. They stirred and stirred, with Greta licking the spoon in between. Then they poured it all into a mini-loaf pan at 425 degrees for 10 minutes.

The result? Something that looked, to me, like a brick of organic soap. The oatmeal gave it a rough texture, good for exfoliating. I didn't dare taste it, but Greta declared it her "birthday cake," and had a few bites for dessert tonight.