Penning Our Story: Cookie Makin' and Lettin' Go

Monday, December 16, 2013

Cookie Makin' and Lettin' Go

The girls and I made cookies tonight. A fun, family Christmas activity. You may have read blog posts from other families doing similar things, and it might sound like this:

"We made sugar cookies for a fun family activity tonight! I just love making memories with my sweet girls. It is so much fun to watch them make messes and enjoy themselves. My life is so blessed!"

I almost made a post like that....then I figured I would rather be honest and real on this blog. So here is what really happened.

I made the dough while the girls were napping and chilled it until after dinner. I let them help me cut out Christmas shapes and put them on the pan. So far, so good. While the cookies were baking, I made some colored frosting and Lia helped stir. Of course, then Eleanor wanted to help stir too. She stirred a couple times and then the oven timer went off. I told her at least 8 times--"Don't eat the frosting! DON'T eat it Enna!" I turned my back to get the cookies out, and when I turned around she was double-fisting handfuls of frosting into her mouth. And Lia was on top of the counter poking her fingers in the unused cookie dough. So I sort of freaked out at them and told them to GET OFF the counter and STOP EATING THE FROSTING. My girls are sweeties and obediently followed my instructions so they could frost some cookies. They had a blast but Eleanor just basically kept eating frosting the whole time and Lia's cookies were so coated in purple frosting that her "ginger-man-bread-boys" looked more like ghosty blobs. The girls had fun decorating (and eating) the cookies, but me? Not as much.

I never really thought of myself as a control freak or a clean freak, but when it comes to my kids for some reason I HATE messes. My house is perpetually messy. It is never clean. So watching my girls make yet another mess really tests my patience. I have a very hard time letting go of control and just letting them do what they want. I am constantly hovering over them, wiping up spills and getting after them for basically just being uncoordinated toddlers. I really, REALLY try to just let it go but it is hard for me. It's something I'm working on. I realize that the messes really aren't a big deal at all. The problem is not with the girls or their messes, it is with me and my attitude.

So the bottom line is this. I love spending time with my girls, but making cookies with them stresses me out. I am trying to not let the messes, the fingers poked in the ingredients, the dropped eggs, the batter flung around the kitchen, the fighting over who gets to stir bother me. I am trying to just let go and let them be little. But it's a work in progress. Until I get there, I think I'll wait to do any more cookie-making until they're a little older. We can do other fun stuff instead, like read books and make block towers, and eat the cookies I make while they are in bed :)