She's a process girl, not product.

Grandma Pat gave Angie little cookie cutters for Christmas and a little Joy of Cooking Cookies cookbook. So we decided it would be fun to make sugar cookies (the only cookie Angie eats) together.

It was an adventure. Again, with so much tossed from the fire, we needed a new mixing bowl and other things. Yesterday, Angie and I went in search of cookie cutters and a rolling pin. She vetoed the star and heart shaped cutters. Instead, we bought foot and flower cutters. We also found some silicon animal shapes that will make good cakes (if she ever chooses to eat cakes other than on her birthday). I could not find the plain sugar crystals that she prefers and she doesn't like the colored kind so we skipped that.

We returned home, ate dinner and settled in for some baking fun. Angie loved measuring the ingredients. "Oooh I love salt!" Yes dear, I know (pretzels and saltines are much preferred over sweets). "Ooooh I love vanilla!" Smells it. Do you like how it smells? "Uh-huh." She helped me crack the egg. "That egg made me all gooey!" Go wash your hands. "I love flour. What is the flour for." It makes the cookie a cookie.

She helped me combine the ingredients and giggled at the measurements. We used two spoons to mix because I killed the mixer. That's okay, I've always preferred mixing by hand anyway. It was just considerably more interesting with the two of us stirring at one time.

We rolled out the dough with some help from Daddy then stuck it in the refrigerator while Angie bathed.

Then we cut the cookies with our new cutters. It should be noted that while mixing the ingredients she was talking about how she was going to have heart and star shaped cookies. Ummm. You said no so we didn't buy them. "Oh. But Mommy the foot cookie cutter is back at the store because I said I didn't want it." No you put it in the basket. Sigh.

She was happy to cut out the foot cookies in the end and liked the little cookies Grandma had given her too.

We put the shapes on a tray and placed it in the oven to bake. Chas and I weren't impressed with the color after the recommended time so we left it to bake a bit longer.

Angie came out excitedly to try the sugar cookies. She took one tiny bite and, "Yuck!" Then took the cookie bits out of her mouth and put it on a napkin.

Sigh. I was afraid that my very particular child would refuse to eat the finished product. To Chas and I, they tasted like sugar cookies, albeit a little dry.

This morning, Chas made pancakes and again, Angie helped with the measuring and mixing. I could tell she was having fun. He tried a few batches while attempting to get the temperature right. He finally hit upon the right color and we prepared a plate for Angie. I could hear the "Yuck." from the living room almost immediately. To be fair to her, we bought a whole wheat, buttermilk mix because Chas trusted the brand. So I made her usual microwaveable pancakes and she was happy again.

So note to us: She likes the doing, not the final product.

Enjoying Her Presents

I read other blogs where parents discuss how kind, thoughtful, warm-hearted and generous their four year olds.

This is not that kind of post.

Angie is a good, kind and loving little kid who daily gives us lots of hugs and kisses and says, "I love you," even when she isn't trying to hide the fact that she has been doing something she shouldn't have.

But the girl likes her things. It's partly because we were forced to throw out many of her toys in our post fire existence and she is in a rebuilding the stash process. But it is also that she is four years old and loves to play.

I don't know if family felt bad that she has lost a lot of things, because she certainly received what seemed like a lot this Holiday Season. Here is a highlight of her current favorites:

The Dollhouse from Chas's family. It's cool. It swivels. It came with furniture and dolls (only females though). I think she especially likes that the toilet has a lid. The doll with the long red hair has been named Eve. My Dad added a small grill set complete with apron, mitt and shish-ke-bobs made out of wood and felt. Too cute. I plan to add a baby to the set so that she gets used to the idea of a baby in the house. I don't know where we will put the nursery, but that is really just a case of play imitating life.

The Dora Bed and Dora doll from Grandma Pat and Grandpa Don. Angie puts her new Dora doll to bed every night and tucks the covers around her. Dora is often a guest at our tea parties (see below).

The Pirate Ship from Grandpa Bill. She opened it up and squealed, "Ooooh a pirate ship! I love it!" That's my girl. It has two sails, two rope ladders, an anchor that retracts, a cannon, three pirates a treasure map, and a treasure chest. There is much piracy in our house right now. And she intuitively grasped the concept of keelhauling. I have no idea, however, what that poor pirate did to deserve it.

The noisy thing from Uncle Scott. She throws it, it makes obnoxious noises or plays music. She is quite fond of it. We parents are not.

Hi Ho Cherry O game from Mommy and Daddy. She loves it. We all make appropriate cheering or sad noises. There is much giggling. We have enjoyed several rounds of the game since we returned from Zanesville on Tuesday.

The Tea Set from Aunt Leigh. I had intended to get her a tea set for Christmas since it was one of the casualties of the fire. I ran out of time, but Leigh came through. With the tea set and the play food from Uncle Jay and Aunt Brandi, we have had many tea parties and picnics since returning home. Dora is there as is Lady the train from Uncle Jay and Aunt Brandi.

She has kept us very busy with her toys.

First Haircut

I had the day off today so we took Angie for her first haircut. We have waited four and a half years, but could put it off no longer. The ends were just too "tangly" and were causing some complaints during brushing.

We took her to Pigtails and Crewcuts which is designed for kids. There are t.v.s with videos playing (Elmo was on when we went), a Thomas the Train table, toys, stuffed animals and the chairs are actually a fire engine, a car and a plane.

Angie was a little less than enthusiastic about getting her hair cut. She received a Fairy Tale Princess Dora for Christmas and the doll talks about having long hair (you push a button, her hair grows). Angie was telling me Rapunzel-esq stories in which the prince cousin Diego couldn't climb up to see Angie because her hair was too short so they couldn't get married.

She went straight for the train table when we arrived. She eventually climbed into the plane (good girl) for her haircut while holding on to one of the trains. Don't worry family, this isn't like when Mom cut my hair, we only asked them to take off a few inches. I'm certain that cousin prince Diego will still be able to climb the tall tower using Angie's ever so long hair.

She did very well and kind of enjoyed the attention. Gale, who cut her hair, was very nice and very focused on making Angie comfortable.

They did give us a very small amount of her hair as a keepsake along with a photo of her in the plane. I may need to cut more off if Grandpa Warren still wants his own lock.

As we were leaving, Angie could pick something from the Treasure Chest. It had some bracelets, random toys and a variety of small rubber duckies. Chas and I both knew she would go for the duckies. For the past month, when we go to World Market, she stops to play with the seasonal rubber duckies. There is counting, categorizing and adventuring to be done every single time. I bought the snowman duckie for her when they went on sale and she loves it. Snow Duckie has been in every bath since. And she has told me that she wants to collect them all (that would be my DNA coming through).

She settled on a small duckie with a purple tiara and a magic wand
and promptly dubbed her "Duckie-ie-ie-ie."

Oh, and her hair looks nice too.

Holiday Spirits

Chas took Angie to a local wine and spirits shop today. She was playing hide behind the stacks of beer with her Dad (she is much more fond of the game than he is). A gentleman dressed in full Santa regalia was there too, making selections.

Angie started to gravitate toward him, but Chas redirected her elsewhere.

She was quite excited to tell me that she saw Santa buying beer today.

I told Chas that this is why they don't allow children in liquour stores in Indiana.

Sigh.

Tonight during the final night of Hannukah, Angie clapped her hands at all the candles. She also told us if the candles fall down, "there will be no Hannukah!"

Toward the end of the blessing, she was singing along again, clearly making up her own words. At one point she was clearly singing, "That's what friends are for. That's what friends are for."

Chas just barely finished the blessing, but not without laughing while singing.

I wish we had filmed it.

Sing-a-long Blessing

Most of you reading know that we have a mixed religion household and Angie reaps the benefits. Currently we are celebrating Hannukah and it's the seventh night. Angie remembers the candles from last year and we found the regular menorah in the stuff packed away from the fire. We'd been using the "travel" menorah until Sunday or Monday.

Anyway, seventh night. So that means six nights of Angie listening to her Daddy sing the blessing. Tonight she tried to join in singing. Chas beamed. She has the melody fairly well, but not the words of course. Still, it was adorable.

Then she wanted Christmas presents.

Ummmm. Not quite yet.