Happy Birthday... Dad?!

My son is admittedly an addict. I've heard that in AA, there is a twelve step program and one of the first steps is admitting that you have a problem. Well- my son doesn't know any better, so I will say it for him. He is addicted to "Elmo's World" (and admittedly anything else that looks, sounds or smells like Elmo- and a word to the wise- the "Tickle Me Elmo" that was the huge seller this Christmas is quite possibly the most annoying toy on the face of the planet. Daily I consider throwing it outside to the neighbor dog and letting him bury it for me). We never miss the show- and thanks to the PBS programming available in our area- we never have to.

Yesterday, we took our customary places in our big old armchair with a snack in hand (string cheese for those that are interested), and we were ready for the next installment of the little red monster's show. We learned about birthdays and everything that went with them. Elmo showed us about parties and getting older and cakes. It was a thrill a minute. At the end of the program, Ty turned to me and asked me more about birthday cakes. He wanted to know if everyone got a birthday cake. Then he asked me if we could make Dad a birthday cake. I told him that it wasn't dad's birthday and was about to tell him no. But then I stopped. It's cold outside and frankly Ty and I are getting a little tired of each other and the daily routine. What better way to break the monotony than by making dad an "un-birthday" cake? It was like a scene from "Alice in Wonderland" or something- we were pulling out cookbooks and flour and aprons like it was going out of style.

I let Ty pick out the perfect birthday cake for his dad, and he chose a two layered white cake with chocolate frosting. Simple enough right? It was suprisingly fun. I am always in awe of what simple pleasures can be had from the dumbest of things. Ty is facinated when it comes to the kitchen and helping me. Yesterday though- I let him take the lead. He measured the flour all by himself- three cups- which he counted all by himself. He poured in the vanilla (maybe a little too much- but hey- it was a vanilla cake, really what could it hurt?) and added the eggs one at a time. And he helped me make the frosting- there was a lot of chocolate melting over the stove- so his help here was a little bit more limited since I didn't want the day to end with us running over to the hostpital with 3rd degree burns. It was such a fantastic smell... The smell of chocolate!!

Anyway, we assembled the cake and decorated all before dad got home. Needless to say, dad was little confused when Ty's greeting for him was "Happy Birthday." We explained our day though and dad was very excited to get his unbirthday cake for dessert.

It was a fun day- someone remind me later to not be so uptight and bake more cakes for no

reason.