Choose to Laugh

Sometimes you have to decide if you're going to laugh or get mad.  Too often, I get upset at something too quickly, ending in a little one's hurt feelings.  So, when I decided to make apple walnut muffins for a playdate and Will begged to help, I said yes even though I knew it would be a disaster. 

He loves to dump ingredients in any order, and especially to add extra salt to everything.  Luckily he grabbed the salt shaker first and added it to an empty mixing bowl, so that was an easy crisis to avert.  Then he cracked an egg really hard, and got a lot of it on the counter.  Did you know that egg is sticky??  And that toddlers like to touch everything in their path on their way to the sink?  So when it was time to turn on the mixer and he turned it on the highest setting, sending diced apple pieces and an explosion of flour into the air, I yelled "Will!" and took a deep breath.  Brian came running at the sound of my voice panicking and was greeted by  Will, Mommy and a kitchen covered in flour.  And what a sight....surprisingly I started to laugh really hard.  Will, who had been on the edge of his seat, waiting for Mama to roar, starting laughing hysterically and Daddy ran for the camera:

 

  

 

The anger dissipated as I laughed, like letting air out of a balloon quickly.  Brian started the tub and I cleaned up the kitchen, which was no easy feat.  Normally I would've yelled at him and probably have sent him to a time-out, instead it became a funny memory.  Later on, as I was putting him to bed and snuggling with him, he said "I love cooking with you, Mommy."  Awwww.