Jack has started a new work schedule that includes Sunday mornings, so for the first time in weeks or maybe months I will be home on weekend mornings (instead of getting work done at Starbucks). I decided to take this first morning as an opportunity to have something other than oatmeal, toast, or Kix for breakfast, so we baked some muffins.
Muffins are a great way to sneak produce into the kids, and unfortunately I didn't have any zuccini to shred into them, so I added a whole bunch of strawberries. I put on my "Tejon kitchen happy" playlist (a playlist of cheerful music that is all child appropriate) and started mixing. Clara was interested as soon as I turned the mixer on, and I let her lick the whisk when it was done, which she loved. She brought a stool into the kitchen and stood to my side watching (and narrating) everything I was doing.
Once the muffins were in the oven I turned on the oven light so the girls could see. The oven window is right at their height, which is nice. Jane was mostly ignoring us up until this point, but Clara was very excited to watch the muffins bake. Shortly later Clara went to use the potty, and Jane took her spot on muffin watch. Clara was successful and I offered her Skittles but she asked instead for a muffin, haha.
While we were waiting for the muffins to bake Clara asked me to come dance with her. We were dancing in circles and Jane tried to carry all the toys she was playing with and join us. I had to help her put them down and then she and Clara took a minute to figure out how to hold hands, but then we all danced (walked slowly) in a circle and they were giggling the whole time. Very sweet.
They recently broke our oven timer, sadly, so I was using the timer on my phone, and each time it went off they both got pretty excited and walked with me to the kitchen to see what would happen. I had to set it more than once for both sets because each time they weren't quite done after the first timer, but the repeated process just built up the excitement! When I took the first batch out, I used one oven mitt and a knife to remove the muffins and let them cool on a plate. Clara continued to stand on a stool and narrate and also asked if she could have an oven mitt, which I declined.
I cut two muffins in half and added butter and put them in a purple bowl for Clara and pink bowl for Jane. Sat Jane in her booster seat and Clara hurried to sit at the table. I brought them each their muffins and they ate them happily. Well actually Jane ate half of hers and then wanted to walk around with the other half. We need to vacuum badly anyway so I just let her.
While the second batch was baking, the song "Ruby Baby" by Dion came on and Clara got up and started slowly spinning in circles while eating her muffin. Last time we listened to "Ruby Baby" Jack and I did some swing dance to it, which the girls found fascinating, so I guess now Clara associates the song with dancing. :)
Clara has also recently started adding what is either "firefly" or "firefighter" to her "Clara elephant" descriptions, such as "Mom, firefly Clara elephant is eating muffins!"
They each asked for seconds, of course, and then they sat on the couch together eating their muffins happily. Now Jane is slowly somersaulting through the living room and looking at me and yelling "YAYYY" at the end of each one.
Later in the morning we were all hanging out in the "blue bed" (mine and Jack's bed) with juice cups and books, and then Jane wanted me to start reading off the letters to my "Home is wherever I am with you" sign. Clara actually hummed part of the song, which I didn't realize she knew, so I sang the chorus and pointed to each word as I sang it. Then I had Alexa play the Edward Sharpe version with the background choir, and each time they sang "home is wherever I am with you" I would point to the words on the sign and Clara and Jane were delighted. The choir repeats the chorus many times at the end so the girls had a lot of time to absorb that this sign in my bedroom was actually part of a song. It was fun to watch them put it together.
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