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The Sandwiches Story
The other day I was making Bug her usual Peanut Butter and Nutella sandwich. (Yes, I know Nutella has four tablespoons of sugar in one spoonful. Gah!) Bug was sitting on the counter next to me, watching and chattering on as she is wont to do.
Everything was going along fine until I got to the cutting part. I cut the sandwich in half and then was about to cut it in half again to make four small triangles when she burst out crying, saying that I wasn’t doing it right. She didn’t want four little triangles. She wanted BIG triangles like her cousin Rapunzel makes.
Sheesh! Kids are so demanding. As if sandwich shapes makes them taste different.
What could I do? One half was already cut? I did what any mother would do. I pretended the big triangle was the mommy sandwich and the two little triangles were the baby sandwiches and made them talk to each other as they waddled on their corners along my paper towel work-space onto her plate.
She thought that was grand…until I told her to eat them
Then there were tears.
“I can’t eat them! I don’t want to eat the Mommy and Baby sandwiches!!!” Waaaah waaaah wahhhh waaaaaah!!! Tears, tears, tears. “Make me another sandwich so I can just look at these sandwiches!”
I tried and tried to tell her the sandwiches wanted to go to the party in her tummy but nothing really worked. She was a crying snotty mess—the usual hungry-needing-a-nap-growth-spurt routine of late. I know a lot of parents would just say suck it up or go hungry and I probably should have. But I finally worked it out for her by drawing a sketch of a mommy sandwich and some baby sandwiches that she could keep and that consoled her. Now we have a sketch of sandwiches permanently living in our house.
Lesson of the day: Never anthropomorphize your kid’s food.
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Summer Citronella Candles!
I’m really proud of this craft. It turned out super sweet. But I have to admit I had a pretty big flop before I got it right.
I did not know that you can’t just walk down the craft store aisle and buy any old wax and and wicking to go with it. You NEED TO READ the package. Because candle-making is a science and not just any old wick goes with any old wax! Who knew! I did this whole candle-making batch, the colors were perfect, I was so excited that I had finally invented another craft of the snow globe soap magnitude and guess what….
THE WICKS WOULDN’T STAY LIT!!!
The candles sputtered, sparked and went out cold. I fumed. They were so pretty and yet completely and utterly useless. I couldn’t even gift them. And it’s not like I can just put up the photos and hope people are not like me and do follow directions. I had to re-do it because what if no other wicks worked and it was all a complete flop?!! The last thing I need is a passel of angry crafters after me.
(wicks pictured here are the wrong kind, they stick up straight because they are waxed wire wicks, not the soft flat braided wicks)Thankfully, praisethelordhallelujah, the new braided wicking worked just fine. The second batch, though not quite as red (don’t skimp on the red crayons!) and photogenic as the first batch, turned out perfectly and burned just fine. And that is how I bring to you my latest craft at Alpha+Mom.
Crafting: It’s a dirty job but somebody’s gotta do it.
