Baking Bread

At Christmas my Mom-Mom commented on how grown up McKenna is becoming.  Although I still see her mostly as a little girl there are definitely times that even I can't deny that she is growing and changing.   I find it difficult sometimes to walk the line between treating her like a 10 year old and, well, treating her like a 10 year old.  I feel a little unprepared to parent her during this stage - much the same feeling as parenting your first two year old.   It's a delicate balance where we are both testing the waters.  She doesn't really push limits at all.  She's a good girl.   She doesn't ask for much and has always been such a helper.  But it's becoming clear that I need to start allowing her to become a little more independent.   

During our latest snow day I decided that McKenna needed a new challenge.  Having just finished all 634 pages of Little Women, she was bored.   She had been asking me to make banana bread and to be honest I just didn't have the time in between refereeing Kinley and Cooper.  So I decided to have her make the bread herself.    She was a little caught off guard at first but I assured her that I would be close by if she had questions.  That was all she needed to hear.   Off she went.  

One hour and one semi disastrous kitchen later and we had 4 mini loaves of delicious bread and one proud little baker.   

It was fun to watch McKenna take on this new challenge.   Already I can see the benefits as her confidence in all things cooking has increased.  She's already talking about baking cookies next and I have no doubt they will be as yummy as the bread. I can definitely see the benefits of her new found skills!

Good job, McKenna!