Watching a child bloom may be one of the greatest experiences available to mankind. Yesterday the King and I took a trip to Walgreens. He found a bouncy ball to play with while I found my desired merchandise. Once discovered I called my son to follow, but instead he turned and walked away. Regular fare for a two year old. But as the headlines of faux journalism declare, what happened next surprised me. He dropped his borrowed ball into it's bin and ran to my side. There couldn't have been a prouder parent in that entire block.
He's like a real life MyBuddy doll. I don't know if Matel, or whichever toy company still creates those dolls for boys, but the selling point was, "wherever you go, he goes." And that's what the King does. This can be challenging sometimes. Especially in the oversized department and super market stores that I find myself shopping in from time to time. Let me break here for a moment to say that there are way too many horizontal product line choices. I don't want to stare at an entire isle of widgets. I just need the one that's not full of hydrogenated corn syrup, sugar, corn syrup, artificial ingredients and flavors and then to be on my way to the next item on the shopping list. Standing in place, searching for a decent food item that's not going to fill my family with unwanted byproducts while the toddler buries the shopping cart with a shelf full of product does not a satisfied customer create. So I don't let that happen, I just move on. Because there is one thing the toddler wants that I generally agree with, and that is movement. We'll sit down and play at home where we can relax.
But we do take our time for some fun snapshots. At Target the other day I must have turned my head a moment and accidentally let my child drink the Ooze. Because when I turned around he had that cowabunga attitude dude and demanded a whole pepperoni pizza.
Large Pepperoni dude with a squeeze bottle of milk. I'll do the slicing!
Most mornings of the week I make my son a cup of milk and grab a yellow banana. We cuddle on the love seat and I prolong Bo On the Go as long as possible. If were not pressed for time I'll make pancakes for our breakfast while he dances and runs in place for Bo's theme song. We know the entire song and often sing it together. He usually helps fill in the last words, Bo, Go, Glow, Energy, Too, some phrases he'll sing with me, holding out the last word until I'm halfway through the next coupling. Bo on the Go is pretty great. Sometimes he even clears the living room of his toys and pillows so he has room for jumping and boogying.
I dance in the kitchen while I mix the batter. Which, by the way, has been in design and perfection mode for over a decade now as I carry on a hybrid of the Pioneer Women's and my mother's recipes.
I mix
1 cup of sour cream
2/3 cup of flour
2 eggs
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of vanilla extract
and 1 ripe banana
in a mixing bowl. Spray a warming pan with olive oil and make 1/4 cup pancakes. I prefer smaller sized pancakes because they cook more even and the same number of pancakes will fill up your mind as well as your belly. The sour cream gives the pancakes excellent texture and the banana is great flavor.
If you can stomach it I suggest using apple sauce as a topping. I don't mind this personally, except that the sauce is cold and cools down my pancakes much too fast. Instead I opt for small amount of maple syrup with spoonfuls of peanut butter and sometimes powdered sugar for extra decadence. Breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day so do it up right and give your stomach a break when the supper bell rings.
Here's my final word. A quote that may or may not be original and an appropriate picture for compliments. Appreciating small actions and discoveries creates a day full of surprises and wonder.
