Pancake art

My mother is an extraordinarily talented woman. She is especially gifted artistically. Unfortunately for me, she was quite stingy in bequeathing these talents to her offspring. She makes better-than-store-bought cakes; I can frost cakes in a single color. She can draw most anything; I can draw stick figures (sort-of). She makes the most amazing playdoh creations; I make playdoh snakes.

Usually her talents are a blessing. For instance, she helped resolve a toddler crisis in our home recently. Somehow J got it in his head that he needed a brother. Not just any brother, but he needed a brother Quincy. Early one morning he told B this, who flippantly replied, "You'll have to talk to Mommy about that one." So J comes charging into my room where I was still sleeping and began pleading for a brother. I was dumbfounded. He was literally weeping, heartbroken, begging for a brother Quincy. I tried as best I could to explain that it wasn't all that simple. That even if we did have another baby, it would be years before he could play with him - and it might not even be a him! J even offered to take H back and trade her in for a brother. I could see we weren't getting anywhere with this. After several hours of trying to console my grieving boy, Grandma arrived and saved the day. She simply sat down and drew a life-sized Quincy for J. As relieved as I was that he was no longer heart-broken, it was a little disturbing to see that his new best friend was a piece of paper. They play together, eat together, read together, and sleep at the same time (Quincy gets stickers over his eyes to close them).

All that to say, since J spends a great deal of time with Grandma, he has a skewed perspective of what adults can do. News flash: Just because Grandma can do it, doesn't mean Mommy can!

One thing J and I like to do together is make pancakes for breakfast. I try to be a fun Mommy and make interesting shapes for him. I'd do the usual simple things: letters, mickey mouse, hearts. Lately, he's been upping the standards. Grandma can draw the Little Einsteins, Mommy should be able to make them out of pancake batter. "Mommy, can you make me Leo, and Quincy, and June, and Annie?" "No, I can't," I reply quite honestly. I was able to satisfy him the first time by making Leo's baton (straight line with a ball on the end - I can handle that) and Quincy's trumpet. But the next time, he was insistent. He wanted Leo. I figured, why not, I'll give it a try. Worst case, the pancake will come out looking like a blob and make a good Rorschach test. I was pleasantly surprised with the results. So here for your viewing pleasure are "The Little Einsteins Pancakes:"

Leo

Rocket, Leo, Leo's baton, Big Jet, Quincy's trumpet.