I got to babysit a four and six year-old for an afternoon. Their parents dropped them off with a gigantic bag of snacks and a movie. But, I had other things in mind. I gotta admit. Sometimes I go overboard with what I have mind.... in the four hours I was left with these kids, we did some arts and crafts, played "pretend" (as in, let's pretend we're all swimming in the ocean) - child's choice, not mine..., played hide-and-seek (even though there's a limited number of spots I could possibly hide) - also, child's choice, not mine..., we went outside and picked tomatoes from the garden, and we baked cupcakes.
Maddy went to town with my box of stickers. Telling a story of fishies swimming towards a present at the bottom of the ocean. What's inside the box, only she would know. On the table in the photo is Mr. Text Man. She told me his name with such attitude, as if it's it was totally unbelievable that I didn't already know what his name was when I asked. Maddy can be a little DQ (DQ = drama queen), but she also has this amazing capability of stealing everyone's hearts. She's so fun and so funny. She'll laugh with you one second, and then the next second, life somehow becomes dramatically miserable for her (simply because our attention had been diverted to her sister for just a split second). Her thing of the moment is performing "Let It Go" from Frozen, but only in whispers because she's too shy to belt it.
And then there's Mia. I seriously feel like I've missed out on the days she grew up. What happened? The last time I saw her, she was this energetic monkey who wouldn't stop. And now, she has poise. She can sit quietly to draw (something she absolutely loves to do right now) or she loves being quizzed on her additions skills. She has a caring and understanding nature especially when it comes to her sister. She explained to me that her sister is the way she is because she's still too young to understand or too young to express herself properly so that's why she's sometimes cranky. Where did the baby in Mia go? She's so grown up now.
After about twenty rounds of hide-and-seek, the redundance was driving me a little nuts. Not to mention that my body actually aches when I'm trying to contort into an unimaginable shape so I could fit and hide behind the TV. I'm way too old for that game. So, before Mia goes on to decide who should be the next "it" person for another game of hide-and-seek, I quickly shouted out, "Who wants to help me bake cupcakes??".
I got two very enthusiastic "Meeee!!".
Siblings will be siblings. Majority of them love each other. But at that age, everything still has to be "fair".
"But why does Mia get to do it?".
"Maddy, I think it's my turn now!".
So, I had to count to five each time they took turns stirring the cupcake batter. To be fair. And it was quiet again.
Maddy is still a little young to understand it all, but loves to be hands-on. She mixes the batter with such determination. Stirring isn't mixing, but flicking flour everywhere. Juggling between giving them instructions, mediating the "fairness", making sure the dough stays inside the bowl, and taking these photos, I've developed a bigger appreciation for what parents gotta do. But I loved every bit of it.
I threw the cupcakes in the oven to bake for 10 minutes while the girls ran over to the piano to play (or really... to literally bang on the keys).
Once the cupcakes were out, it was time to frost. I knew this could either be fun or a disaster. Either way, we'd give it a shot anyway. Mia chose to frost her cupcakes yellow.
Maddy mixes the pink icing.
While Mia was meticulously putting on each cupcake confetti, and placing them with much precision...
...Maddy was eating the sprinkles by the handful. No pictures of her in action because I had to dump my camera, to grab her hand before she took another mouthful. Even though I allowed her to eat one or two of the sugar hearts, she would take another handful each time I turned away to help her sister. What a cheeky monkey! So that is why one of her cupcakes had a sprinkle pile on top (because she quickly released the handful of sprinkles when I was just about to catch her eating some more), and the rest were more minimalistic because I eventually moved the bowl away and limited her assess to the decorations. It was pretty cute.
All in all, I think the girls had a great time.
When I dropped them off to their parents, and the girls handed their cupcakes to their mom, she commented, "Great! Next time, auntie Amie will teach you guys how to make me a turkey dinner!".
I then pictured Maddy drinking the gravy by the bowlful.
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