"Mommy, I would like a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich for dinner, and I am cooking."
To be honest, the first thought that crossed my sleep-deprived, time-conscious, OCD/clean-freak mind was
"You will absolutely NOT be making a sticky, gooey mess of my very clean kitchen this close to bedtime!!!!"
But the less high-strung, calmer, go-with-the flow voice deep down inside me-- the one that often recalls the famous Last Lecture given by one of the most inspirational people I have ever heard, Randy Pausch, took a deep breath, put a smile on my face, and answered,
"What a great idea Aves! Go for it."
This should be very interesting, I thought to myself as she was already pushing the chair over to the cabinet to reach her "ingredients" for her "recipe." (She reminded me on atleast 9 occasions that she desired no help whatsoever, and that she could get the bread herself, the knife herself, the plate herself, and all other necessary ingredients for this venture, sans any sort of assistance from me.)
The hilarity that ensued over the next 25-- (that's right, TWENTY-FIVE) long minutes of sandwich making, as she quickly learned life's little lessons like peanut butter is a b**ch to spread on bread, jam is difficult to retreive from a jar with a knife, etc... was best captured by the pictures that follow...
But in the end, my heart was overflowing with smooth, peanut-buttery pride (and my eyes with warm, salty tears!) as she beamed a huge, accomplished smile and proclaimed,
"Momma, LOOK!!! I DID IT!!!!!!"
So in conclusion, yes, I unequivocally could have made the same sandwich for her in 1/10th of the time, and with 1/10000th of the mess; but this highly spontaneous, totally defining moment in her childhood was entirely worth every ooey-gooey, sticky, crumbs-on-the-floor, jam in her hair, peanut butter handprints on the chair second. :-)
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