It’s three days until Christmas. I have the week off from work. That is, I have a week off of my normal job. This week I’m full-time daddy. And to make things even more fun, I have a cold.
On today’s planner is “Make Cookies”
Since my wife is working, it’s just going to be me and Michael. He told me last night as I was putting him to bed that today “we’re going to be buddies!”
I’m glad to hear that.
Last time it was just the two of us was two weekends ago, and we made sugar cookies. He’d been asking to make them for quite a while, and we had the perfect opportunity. So while I cleaned up the kitchen in preparation for making cookies, he peppered me with thirteen thousand five hundred eighty-two questions, most of which were of some form of “can we make cookies now?”
To have a five-year-old helper, it’s important to understand their limitations. As much as I’d like to hand him the recipe page and tell him to have at it, he’s just not quite there yet. Instead I got things like flour, sugar, butter and eggs portioned out and ready and had him pour them into the bowl and mix them up in term. I explained why you mix the butter with the sugar first, proper technique for blending in the eggs and why it’s important to keep the dry ingredients separate from the wet until the final mixing.
He gave the dough about two turns with the spoon and pronounced it too difficult to stir.
After a couple hours of chill in the refrigerator, the dough was ready to roll. This he wanted to do in great excess. Had I not kept him in check, the cookies would have ended up gold-leaf thin if not entirely transparent.
We selected a number of cookie cutters, in traditional shapes: tree, star, bell, heart, etc. My favorite is the one in the middle. He called that one the “award”. Yeah, that sounds about right.
He was only too happy to cut cookies out and place them on the cookie sheets. He got quite adept at being able to do it without tearing the raw cookies. By the third batch he was an old, practiced hand at cutting out cookies, reforming and re-rolling the leftover dough and cutting out another set. We used every scrap.
His favorite part was decorating. I never saw a kid spend so much time carefully selecting and applying sugar sprinkles on cookies. And he liked to use every color, regardless of the cookie’s shape.
So we’re going to be making cookies again today, as the last batch has long since been snarfed down.
I’m hoping I win another award today. Maybe one with a little something that’ll soothe my sore throat.
Merry Christmas everyone!
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December 22nd, 2009 - 11:19 am
Reward is right. Nice job with the cookies. I draw the line at savory fare, but my wife sure can bake some tasty treats.
(MD) It’s a good diversion and keeps a little guy occupied. They love having something to help with when they’re this age.
December 22nd, 2009 - 12:01 pm
We are busy making cookies here today too! Enjoy your week off!
(MD) Thanks! I hope to. Today I have some help, I think, so it won’t be as rough.
December 22nd, 2009 - 2:53 pm
They look like perfect sugar cookies! Good job Daddy and Michael. Daddy, I think you deserve 2 awards tonight.
(MD) Thanks! I’ll take you up on that.
December 22nd, 2009 - 4:30 pm
That is such a cute picture of Michael. Could you email it to me so I can put it in my gallery? Thanks!
December 23rd, 2009 - 3:42 am
Michael did a very impressive job on those cookies. Where on earth did you find a margarita glass cookie cutter?
I hope that this week of buddy time goes wonderfully.
(MD) He did a great job, I was pretty impressed too. As for where to find those cookie cutters: Michael’s Mommy has a knack for finding things like that; you might ask her.
December 23rd, 2009 - 5:46 am
You are a great dad! I really enjoyed your writing and have linked to your site from my blog! Happy holidays and best wishes for the new year! -Emily
(MD) Thanks for the link! I hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas.
December 23rd, 2009 - 11:36 am
Every time I see Michael he looks more and more grownup, where is the little chubby baby from yesteryear?
He looks so cute and I miss him so much and would love a cookie or two.
Give him a kiss for his old Gramann, okay? Love to all, me
(MD) I know… he keeps on growing up, even though he insists he isn’t. There’s just no way to stop it.
December 23rd, 2009 - 11:37 am
Sorry to hear about the cold. My wife has one as well. Great looking cookies. Happy Holidays to you and your family from the ours….Mike
(MD) Thanks! And a very Merry Christmas to you and yours as well!
December 24th, 2009 - 5:53 pm
I hope eating the cookies was as much fun as they were to make. Great looking cookies. Congrats to both of the bakers. I hope you get over your cold very soon!
Merry Christmas and Happy 2010 to you and your family!
(MD) They were lots of fun to eat. Michael had the most fun in that department, I think. Picking sprinkles off each cookie, one by one. It took hours.
December 28th, 2009 - 4:57 pm
Can you send me one of those awards, or do I have to make it myself?
VERY fun. Unfortunately for my kids, my Control Freak tendencies prevented us from having too many baking sessions together when they were five. Oops.
(MD) Unfortunately these particular awards aren’t nearly as tasty as their liquid counterparts. As for little kid helpers; it’s okay if they’re doing something they really can’t mess up, like pouring from a measuring cup to the mixing bowl, or retrieving the baking powder from the cupboard. As it was, he was all too quick to haul in the vacuum cleaner every time a puff of flour landed on the counter or floor. He’s got a Monk think going on, I think.