Baking on the Counter

I had a brief moment of hesitation before posting this picture. I figured people would think one of two things when they saw it:

1. "My God, her child is on the counter, what the heck kind of house is she running over there?"

OR

2. "Thank God, her child is on the counter. I'm not the only one."

So think what you want, but Ava was on the counter while we were baking cookies today, and quite frankly it doesn't bother me. I have these moments from time to time, wondering if I am ruining my daughter at such a young age. Is she going to be a rampant, rebellious teenager who listens to nothing I say and feels the desire to give into impulses to do whatever she wants? Or, as I like to tell myself, is this just a stage? And so what if she wants to sit on the counter from now until when she is a teenager, I find it somewhat endearing.

I have these thoughts from time to time when my mother comes over. The one day, Ava was jumping off the couch. As I watched from the kitchen at my mother who was smirking at Ava jumping off the couch I thought, "Is she wondering what in the world I'm doing? Is she thinking I have no control and I'm never going to be able to tame my daughter? After all, we certainly  never jumped off of our couch when we were younger. We were well behaved children."

In the end I decided that it didn't really matter. My mom tells me all the time that I'm doing a wonderful job as a mother, and I'm pretty sure she is being sincere about it. At the end of the day, we as mothers need to figure out our mothering personalities and come to terms with being ok with them. It's easy to second guess our decisions and our rules and the boundries we set, but the beauty of life is that we are INDIVIDUALS raising children who will have their own personalities partially shaped by our personalities. As long as we are trying our trying to do our best with what we have, our children will be ok. Maybe Ava will end up being a tightrope walker in the circus, or a very creative pastery chef because I let her express her energetic and creative impulses at home. Whatever she becomes I will enjoy watching her come into herself as she grows, and in the meantime if she wants to jump off my couch onto all of the cushions on the floor while I get the dishes done...well, I'm ok with that!

By the way, the cookies were pretty good. They were called Chocolate Pudding White Chocolate Chunk cookies! Here is the recipe:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

1 cup  packed brown sugar

1 pkg. (3.9 oz.) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

2   eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups  flour

1 pkg. (6 squares) BAKER'S White Chocolate, chopped 

 

HEAT oven to 350°F.
BEAT butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Add dry pudding mix; beat until well blended. Add eggs and baking soda; mix well. Gradually add flour, beating after each addition until well blended. Stir in chocolate.
DROP tablespoons of dough, 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets.
BAKE 10 to 12 min. or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 1 min. on baking sheets; remove to wire racks. Cool completely.

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