“Mommy, I wish the world were a big heart,” my daughter says.

“You think of the best ideas,” I say.

“Love and pink and red everywhere,” she adds.

“That would be quite a world,” I say.

“So, today- like right now- can we make heart cookies?” She turns her head to the side and bats her eyes.

“You are four! What are you doing with those eyes!” I bend down. “Where did you learn to do that?”

“What?” She smiles.

“Four year olds don’t bat their eyes. I knew you were up to something!” I stand up and wipe the kitchen counter.

“Oh, please, mommy, I really, really, really want to make heart cookies. It’s my favorite thing to do.”

“I thought your favorite thing to do five minutes ago was to color dogs, and five minutes before that your favorite thing was to play ‘Feed the Kitty,’ and 5 minutes before that I thought making puzzles was your favorite thing to do?” I put my hands on my hips.

Her shoulders relax. She sighs. “Mommy.” She twirls toward a stool. “I would like a spot of tea.”

“A spot of tea?” I laugh. “You make me laugh little girl! Okay, I shall make us tea with honey.”

“Oh, goody.” She raises her arms and hugs me.

“I guess we’ll need some cookies to go with the tea, huh?” I say. “Heart ones?”

“Yes.” She nods like she’s adding an exclamation point. “Pink and Red.”

  Filed under: Parenting, Stuff that floats through this chick?s mind. by  Gwen  1 Comment »

Frosting is the perfect, sweet mix of butter, sugar, and milk. A white butter cream slopped in gobs on top of a deep chocolate cupcake is enough to send any toddler screaming with delight, and her mother too for that matter.

The process of creating frosting is pure fun.

On one particular day, my little one became the frosting.

She unwrapped the butter quarters, plopped them into the mixer, and watched as the wire whip cut and creamed the hard butter into yellow fluff. She helped measure the sugar- well, she poured it into a measuring cup and purposefully made it overflow onto the counter. Her eyes increased in size as she stuck her finger deep in the middle.

“Yum! Can I do that again, Mommy?” She grinned.

“We need to make sure we have enough for the frosting,” I said.

“Oh, okay.” She momentarily understood. Though, the overflowing sugar part of the process was especially wonderful, the final product would be ecstasy- if she could wait that long.

The butter, sugar, dash of vanilla, and milk spun in a dizzy dance. She leaned over the mixer and reported several times, “I think it’s done.”

Each time I checked, her level of anticipation increased; she leaned into the mixer more, her knees dug into the counter, and her feet tapped the stool.

At last, the creamy treat was ready.

“MOMMY, MOMMY, MOMMY!” She was frenetic. Heaven was within her grasp- inside a shiny, aluminum bowl. “Can I please lick the bowl?”

“Of course!” While I spread the frosting on top of the warm cupcakes, she sat on the stool with the bowl between her legs. Frosting covered her hair, her cheeks, her shirt, both legs, and some became toenail polish.

She officially became my cupcake.

To save this event for posterity I created the Simply Chickie t-shirt design “I am the frosting.”

She is the frosting on my life.

  Filed under: Chick-ism, Uncategorized by  Gwen  3 Comments »

“I’m a big fan of anything organic, so when Inna@AGCG told me about SimplyChickie, I just had to mention it here on TheNewParentsGuide.com blog.

SimplyChickie offers 100% organic cotton clothing including organic onesies, t-shirts and hats for both boys and girls to wear. Free of dyes and using only certified cotton grown in fields that are free of pesticides, all of the Little Chickie Wear products are made in the U.S. and feature whimsical designs created by the CEO and Founder, Gwendolyn Gardner – who strives to capture the wonder of childhood by printing whimsical sayings and graphics (one of my faves pictured) on clothing that do not contribute to the pollution of our environment. Sizes are available from 3 months to 6T.”

Go to The New Parents Guide Website here.

  Filed under: Blog Review, Parenting by  admin  3 Comments »