Bad Mommy, Part 2

After Drew's strong hints that he would really, really like me to make chocolate chip banana bread, I decided to enlist Rachel's help tonight in making it. We stopped at Fred Meyer's on the way home because I'm also making dinner and a cake for the executive director of the Oregon Area Jewish Committee, who is battling a mysterious ailment and has been hospitalized for almost a week.

By the time we got home I had to rush to get dinner on the table, it got late, and Rachel on Tuesdays empties all the garbages, so by the time we got finished it was time to get ready for bed. She was really, really upset that she couldn't help me bake but stopped crying when I agreed to her sad request for "a Mommy cuddle."

She otherwise was quite cheerful about going to bed. I returned to the kitchen and started baking and then discovered something...I was lonely. Baking is so much more fun when Rachel is helping me in the kitchen! I felt so bad that I saved the beaters from the chocolate chip cake to give her tomorrow morning.

Then I thought, what the heck, and went into her room. She was lying in bed (it was 10:15) and I handed her the chocolate covered beater. When she asked me why, I told her I felt bad we didn't get to bake together and lonely without her in the kitchen, so I was bringing her the beater as an extra special treat that will NOT BE REPEATED. "Remember this when you're with your therapist someday," I ordered, and she smiled and licked all the chocolate away. She looked really, really happy.

Maybe I'm not a bad mommy after all. At least I'm full of surprises!