The Ting Tings and Flaming Brownies -- Part of Turning 8

Tomorrow at just past 7:30 Bella will officially be 8.  I should so be into the groove of motherhood, but I still am 1 part in awe, 1 part overwhelmed, and 1 part terrified.  This whole kid thing is tricky.

Last weekend we had cake and presents with the family since Jack is away this week.  Tomorrow I have a few more presents for when she wakes up.  Jack's thing has always been music so on his behalf, I am supposed to make sure the Ting Tings' "Happy Birthday" is playing when she gets up in the morning.    She will take brownies and ice cream cups to her class.  I promised her I would fix her what ever her heart desired for supper.

Even though we didn't do anything big for her birthday, there is a trip planned for later in the spring, but  between baking last weekend's birthday cake and tonight's class brownies, I felt like it was big doings.  I have been on a roll of kitchen related messes for a week now, beginning with last Saturday. I had the layers of cake stacked and frosted and safely in the fridge while I mixed up some other colors of frosting to decorate with.  When I opened the fridge door, the cake just leaped out and landed upside down on my freshly mopped floor.  This was a case of scraping the frosting off and being thankful that there was enough left in the bowl to start over.  To think I had almost only made a half batch of frosting.  Today involved flames.  Bell loves little bite sized things and wanted to take brownies that were mini-muffin sized.  Not a problem.  At least not until I took them out of the oven. I jostled the pan and six brownies popped out of the pan and into the bottom of the oven.  To get to them, I had to pull the racks out.  By then, the ones that landed on the element were nice chocolaty torches.  The BBQ tongs were handy and the blackened brownies were tossed into the sink where they promptly fizzled out.  I would love to have something to blame all these messes on, but I am simply clumsy.  Or rather, I am absurdly clumsy.

Whatever the preparations, I am well aware that this child is a gift to me.  I didn't realize how much first Jack and then Bell would fill up my heart and my life, making more of me than I had any idea was possible.  I am not parent of the year and Bell is not child of the year.  We are too flawed for that, but she completes us.    Perhaps we all see so much to wonder at, to be enthralled by as we look at our children.  I hope we all do, for every child should be a wonder to someone.

This year has brought us a tall girl with a sense of humor who is becoming quite the joke teller and awho has peculiar grasp of language. It is like listening to me.   She is wise beyond years and yet still small and so very innocent of so much of the world.  I cannot imagine how she will change in a year.

As any decent parent, I have such high hopes for Bella - to be strong, to be able to bend, to be wise and smart.  I think my prayer for this year, though, is for her to simply grow in the spirit of generosity, to be able to give of herself when it isn't particularly easy, and to walk in gentleness, peace,  and love.  I pray that she will have ears to hear Truth.

  I am always enchanted by the delight on her face with each new discovery, whether it be dinosaur bones at the museum or the first flower of spring.  I am thankful for another year of these moments of watching her grow and discover.  I do not know what her next year holds, but I pray blessings and grace for this child as she learns and grows and explores.