5th February 2009

Having a Child is Reliving the Best of Your Own Childhood & Perhaps Rewriting 3 replies

the rest of the script that you didn’t like so much, right?

Tonight, I was having a major sugar craving.  In fact, I think I was passing a mere craving after a long day at the office, but it was a productive day.  I have worked at the office half days this week, with the exception of Monday where the office was geographically located at my house.  I worked out with my trainer today.  I was feeling as if I was catching up and accomplishing more than just a thing or two.  Melina seemed to adjust to being at the office today, probably mostly due to the gift my trainer brought me - something divine called a “swing”!  Melina slept for 2 1/2 hours (two separate naps) and gave Mommy plenty of time to get a proposal out the door.  Afterwards, I came home, fed her, cooked and ate my own dinner, and then after putting her to sleep, decided to make cupcakes.

As I was making red velvet cupcakes, determined not to eat all the icing before I served the cupcakes, I was feeling like a genuine Mom.  Moms make cupcakes for their children’s school events, for bake sales, etc.  I’ve never had the desire to bake a cake, or cupcakes, in my adult life.  But tonight, I chose to make a batch of red velvet cupcakes and vanilla icing on top.  As I spread the vanilla icing on top of the cupcakes, I realized this was something I would soon do for my daughter’s bake sales and events.  

When Mom was baking in the kitchen, it was very exciting - who was going to lick the spoon at the end of batch?  But more exciting was to see the themed event that would take place surrounding a birthday cake, and Mom’s decoration of that cake.  As I tried to decorate a cake in my early 20’s, i realized I did not have the same qualities that Mom had in baking a cake.  In fact, bluntly put, I sucked at baking and icing cakes.  My mom’s cakes - they were something out of Martha Stewart before MS really existed.  On top of that, her cakes were real - none of that yucky icing that just looks pretty on a Martha Stewart magazine cover.  My mom’s cakes were made with real buttercream icing, and with real icing florets.  I loved her icing so much, I’d rather have eaten just the icing instead of the cake. 


Freshly made red velvet cupcakes with vanilla icing and red sprinkles

So, as I impatiently slathered my “vanilla flavored Duncan Hines” icing on the warm cupcakes, I thought of my own childhood and how I looked forward to the day that I’d make these cakes for her to take to school, or bake sales, or to share.  And then I began to panic for a few moments, thinking, what if my cakes aren’t really the hit of the party.  Mom better come out here and teach me how to make cakes for Melina.  Or better yet, she could just make them herself for Melina’s birthdays - as we all have our qualities and making cakes does not appear to be in my own personal recipe book.  And then it occurred to me that having a child is perhaps a story in which we try to recreate our own childhood and live it again, taking the best parts and weaving them into our children’s lives so they could enjoy what we enjoyed as children.  We’re just retreating in some small way to relive something so innocent as an iced cupcake.  Our early childhood can be a time of simple joy remembered.


Melina - A Long Time Before Bake Sales
Are Required

For the parts of our childhood that we didn’t enjoy as much, well, we have the option to re-write the script, or perhaps choose to have an understanding that’s different once we encounter that stage of life with our own children.  Regardless, tonight, I reminisced on the good memories of my childhood as I sat there and tried to make iced cupcakes - and realized how badly I needed my own Mom to show me the ropes in the kitchen for baked goods.  Better yet, I could just ask her to make the cake and decorate it please, if you will kindly do so, pretty please, with red sprinkles on top. 

3 Responses to “Having a Child is Reliving the Best of Your Own Childhood & Perhaps Rewriting”

  1. Kristi says:
    February 5th, 2009 at 11:01 am

    aww, she is so cute! And those cupcakes look YUMMY!

  2. susan shepherd says:
    February 5th, 2009 at 11:00 pm

    Your little cupcake is such a cutie. She has really plumped up since I was out there. Wish I could hold her. Glad to hear that you are doing so well. Seems like you have gotten over that first hump of Mommydom. Knew you would. Lot’s of love to you both.

  3. Elaine says:
    February 6th, 2009 at 2:30 pm

    The cupcakes look yummy! And Melina…too cute!

    Not to burst your bubble regarding upcoming bake sales, the preschool that my kids attend do not allow ‘home-made’ cookies/cupcakes, etc because the school has to know which ingredients were used to make the item since many kids today have food allergies (especially peanuts). My two kids with no food allergies are not the norm. It really makes you wonder how we all survived our childhoods, enjoying the simple pleasures like homemade cookies/cakes/cupcakes. Luckily Melina is a ways from this so take advantage while you can (and find a good bakery — it takes the stress & worry of party planning out of the picture).

Leave a Reply

To reply to this article, please enter your name and write your comment in the textbox below. Some HTML tags are allowed, but others will be stripped if you enter them in your comments.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

More from Laura Thieme: