Cooking and Football and Toddler Tunes

Zoe was down for a nap and Chris was at work, so I thought it was time to introduce Tia to something new. I turned off "The Wiggles" ( Tia calls them - Giggles!), and led her downstairs. Then I put us both in aprons and led her to the dining table, which had all the ingredients to make pizza, and included some "power puree"(found on some Mummy blog) - made of carrot and sweet potato.

Tia looked at me in disbelief when I encouraged her to rub the flour on the chopping board. It was a "Are you aware of the mixed messages you are sending out here?" kind of a look. But she got on with it, until she spotted a football out of the corner of her eye.

Obviously football then became the thing as Tia ran around the room kicking the ball. I wondered if our mother daughter bonding moment would be lost to having to kick a ball around. Then I decided that my daughter could just be the next Gordon Ramsey type (minus the potty mouth) and I wooed her back to the table.

We had a great time making the pizzas, and playing, and singing along to some of Tia's classic favourite tunes and getting our hands messy. And she ate it when it was cooked too! Bonus!

So here begins a little Saxton tradition. Well actually, not quite. One of my earliest memories is of me standing on a chair in Aunt May's kitchen playing with flour and making jam tarts. In my case we had Radio 2 in the background.I remember feeling so excited at doing something so grown up; being able to "cook"! I loved the rolling pin and the mixing bowl and the wooden spoon. And I loved having Aunt May all to myself for awhile, talking , playing, cooking - eating ( though I do recall everybody got involved in that bit!!!).

It's great to share the same fun with my daughter, and to anticipate doing the same with Zoe.

I also realise this tradition is a fantastic reason (read excuse) for never having a clean kitchen again!!!