Banana Bread: An epic tale of triumph and despair

This is definitely going to be delicious, eventually.

We like to eat, and we mostly like to cook. I have been hoping to do a lot of cooking with the boys this summer, since we kind of fell off the wagon through the school year. After my first experiment with both boys in the kitchen, I'm still going to keep trying, but it will be like planning and running two different activities that have to intersect at strategic times, everything has to stay exactly on schedule. We'll see. 

We started out strong, and, significantly, we started out during Graham's nap time. We had some bananas that were ready to be turned into bread, and we found this delicious recipe online. (In an unusual move for me, I made it pretty much as written, only I left the rum out of the glaze.)

It's gonna be good! 

Brendan is a good cook, he has great baking skills and a lot of enthusiasm.

Brendan zesting a lime, enthusiastically. 

We were moving along pretty well, when Graham woke up from his nap early. And Graham's not a real happy after-nap kind of guy.  I set him up to stir up the dry ingredients, which kept him from simply standing directly in front of me and shrieking at the top of his lungs for a half hour, but just barely. 

This is as good a mood as you're going to catch Graham in right after a nap.

Now once Graham entered the picture, that's when I needed Brendan to really step up and help out, either with the recipe or with keeping Graham occupied. Obviously that was the precise moment when he totally lost interest and decided to lay on the floor impersonating various invertebrates.

Here's Brendan pretending to be a centipede because of course he is. 

We were still doing okay though. Graham managed to tap into his innate love of being a "help-o" to me, and together we added the rest of the ingredients. 

Mommy, I bein a helpo!

We also got the stand mixer going, which is always a source of entertainment. 

Graham is starting to have a little bit of happy face!

However, once we got ready to put the bread in the oven, everything fell completely apart. Graham, as it turns out, finds the fact of actually cooking something to be completely and utterly devastating. 

You have to put it in the OVEN!?!?

For an ENTIRE HOUR!?!?!?

Eventually, the bread turned out fine. It wasn't the most amazing thing ever, because the simple fact is that banana bread with a ridiculous amount of butter in it is still the best, but we liked it. 

And you'll be relieved to know that Graham recovered from the tragedy of baking, and quickly regained his joie de vivre thanks to Playdough. 

So we're all fine here.  I'm still plotting our next cooking project. I'm thinking pizza.