One of Freddie's favorite things is helping around the house and helping me out. Before he was 2, his father and I separated, he's always been my "man of the house" and any time he sees I'm doing something, he stops and asks if I need help. Most of the time, I let him, if it's not involving a hot stove, this way I keep the balance of letting him know he's still welcome to be my helping hand and showing him positive reinforcement with helping around the house.
This weekend we attended a family get-together and decided to make a dessert for our potluck dish. Behold, Irish Dirt Cake (all credits go to a collaboration of people on Pinterest and my childhood)
While making this dessert I learned two things:
- Instant pudding really is instant.
- Your child will take all your credit even though he did only 2 things.
The first two batches of pudding I cooked over the stove and it took forever. Okay, maybe 10 minutes, but I don't have the patience for pudding and making it, by the 2nd minute, I'm already going, why did I choose this dessert, I don't have the attention for this....
Pudding. Done.
About the time I'm done with the pudding, Freddie is waltzing into the kitchen asking to help. I need him to set up the cups. He says okay, he sets up the cups and asks, what's next? I give him some Oreo cookies and a plastic bag and ask him to crush the Oreo cookies.
Cookie Crushing done and Freddie is over it.
Lesson 1 of the day:
Fast forward to the part where I need two more large boxes of pudding. I send Scotty P to the store and he comes back with the pudding. He asks if he can help, and I'm like HELL YES! He can make the pudding because it bores me and I don't want to stand over the stove for another 10 minutes...
My back is turned to the kitchen, and I hear the pudding open and the milk pour into the pot, hear the stirring, but don't hear the stove turn on (it's gas, there was no clicking) and I see Scotty P walk away and upstairs. I'm thinking - Oooookay, maybe he forgot something, he'll be right back. 5 minutes goes by and he comes downstairs in one of the new shirts we bought earlier the day, shows it to me, and goes back upstairs.... By now I'm thinking - Alright, fine, I'll do it myself. I go to the stove to turn on the gas and notice the pudding is made. This man is a fucking magician.
One thing you should know about Scotty P is he's a genius. And I'm not saying this because he's reading it and I have to ;) but he really is. I go to the stairs and I call him and I ask how the hell did he make pudding without fire. He says, it's instant. Milk, Pudding, Mix, Done. WHAT. THE. FUCK. For me, instant is 10 minutes ON THE STOVE. Had I known this shit EARLIER, I would have gotten this instant pudding the first time....
I obviously don't cook pudding often.
Lesson 2 of the day:
Fast forwarding again... all cups are done and prepped the finishing touches needed are the worms. Bring in Freddie, who has been waiting FOREVER (because you know that's how long it took for us to make this) for this part because he knows he can eat a couple of these worms while helping. All worm are on cups and we are done. We get to the pot luck and as people start arriving I'm sitting in the living room, and I over hear Freddie greet some of the guests (he was apparently part of the welcoming committee). As he is talking to the guest, I hear him say, "Look, what I made for everyone..." He goes over to the fridge, opens it, and shows them the desserts we made.
That's nice. The desserts he made. He's lucky he's cute.