Baking a cake
with a toddler
by Chandrika R
Krishnan
Tiptoe out of
the room of your sleeping toddler holding your
breath
Take a deep
breath before you asphyxiate
Pray to
whichever powers it might be
Clear the
kitchen island off toys, leftover baby food and
scores other things that you kept piling up in
your bid of ‘keeping things out of reach’
Take out flour,
butter, measuring cup, sugar
Measure flour,
butter and sugar
Go fetch your
toddler before he bawls the house down
Place him on
his high chair and give him his favourite snack
Spend some
time searching for the sieve and whisk indulging
in baby talk
Remove a
couple of crackers that fly and land in the
butter, turn his chair around before any more
land on the flour
Wash hands
Sieve the
flour and wonder what you have forgotten
Scroll through
the recipe
Hand the toy
back to your toddler as soon as you hear the
indignant screech
Realize that
you have forgotten baking soda
Add the baking
soda, sing a ditty to your child who is hell bent
on toppling the chair
Spend some
time wondering if you had sieved the flour after
adding the soda
What the hell!
Sieve again
Start whisking
butter and sugar …answer the call
Bark at your
husband who wants to know if all is well
Start telling
a story to distract your toddler who threatens to
start his hollering
You rush to
switch on the oven as you had forgotten to
preheat the oven
Fold your
flour in…
Realize that
there is a crackling smell from the oven, switch
off to investigate
Remove a burnt
Lego piece and call the service Centre to repair
the now damaged oven
Call mom
running behind a happy toddler and ask if the
cake batter can be salvaged and used in another
recipe or has to be thrown into the bin?
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