Slowing Down

For some reason I am often in a hurry. There usually isn't any reason other than I just want to "get it over with"...whatever it is (grocery shopping, trip to the mall, cooking, etc.). Today I wanted to make some banana bread because I had a few browning bananas on my counter. Normally I would turn on a cartoon for Jonas so I could get it over with quickly but today I invited him to help me. This is kind of a big deal for me. I don't like having the kids in the kitchen while I'm cooking. Most of the time I am so flustered running back and forth trying to make sure everything finishes at the same time that I can't handle the kids in there as well. Today was a quiet, rainy day and we didn't have anything planned so it was perfect to do something together. I let him pour and stir while I mashed and measured. And I didn't even get frustrated when a cup of flour ended up on the counter rather than in the bowl! (also sort of a big deal for me...I've been having to work on my patience a lot lately). While he was mixing Jonas kept saying, "this is really fun Mom!" and after we put it in the oven he said, "Thanks for letting me help you." Totally worth the time and extra mess!

And as an added bonus he actually tried some of it (he normally wouldn't touch it) because he saw what went into it - "chocolate sugar" (brown sugar) and a handful of chocolate chips!

UPDATE: Just after this picture was taken Jonas informed me he doesn't like it. :)