Baking Up a New Outlook

Ruth has a friend, "L". At first, we were not sure about "L" from the parent stand point. Ruth often left her house in tears, and when "L" was here there was quite a bit of fighting. Finally, I told "L" that we don't like fighting at our house, and if she wants to go home, it is okay. I will be glad to take her. Amazingly, the fighting stopped.

"L" has her own set of difficulties. I do not feel at liberty to discuss them, except for one which is pertinent to this post. She is the youngest of 5 sisters. Now, I am the youngest of 4, and my Nana was the youngest of 5. I have often been spoiled by my sisters, not teased to tears. I do not recall them harassing my friends. In fact, the opposite. But, "L" has a different family life style. Her sisters fight, often.

Yesterday, Ruth asked to visit "L" for the afternoon. Ruth was excited and really wanted to go. I let her. It turns out that the older sisters were in charge. They locked Ruth out of rooms, and out of the house. They teased her often, and made up mean songs. When their mother came home, Ruth didn't tell her about all of this, because in the past the sisters have lied about the behavior. Mom offered for Ruth to have dinner, thinking the girls had done the prep work she asked. Apparently they were too busy being nasty to remember, and so dinner wasn't going to be until after 8. Ruth was told it was going to be too late for her to stay for the birthday cake. Ruth called home in tears. I went immediately to pick her up. After she came out to greet me, we tried to go in to get her things. The door was locked. Ruth began to cry again. I ushered her toward the car. As I was getting in "L" and Mom appeared with Ruth's things. They commented on how Ruth left without asking for help in finding them. I explained about the door. Mom said she was int he shower. I believe her. She is a very nice woman, who maybe doesn't know about what is truly going in on. She has a lot on her plate, and I didn't feel it was time to add on. SO, we thanked her for the visit, and left.

On the way home, Ruth asked if we could bake a cake. She bought a mix about a month ago and was told when she was ready, she could make it on her own. She expressed such delight in making this cake. She ripped open the box. Used my good Fiskers pinking shears to cut the plastic bag. UGH! Cracking eggs, there were squeals of delight. Our eggs have the occasional double yolk. She stirred up the mix, measuring liquid in the right kind of measuring cups. :) The chuckles abounded from Grandpa and I as she licked the side of the bowl after pouring it into the pan, and then proceeded to lick the spatula that we needed to scape the remains. Whatever....

Ruth sat and gazed at her "un- birthday" cake as it baked.

She talked about the way it would taste, and the frosting she would place on it. She licked the stove- yes, I know- and decided it didn't tasted the way she thought it would. Good, if it had tasted good, I would be in trouble. She'd be licking every one's stove.... Off topic. We invited Grandpa to come and have cake for breakfast, as he needed to leave while it was still baking.

When the cake cooled, we applied the frosting from a can, and Ruth lathered on the sprinkles. She had a small piece, complete with lights off and candles. The delight on her face showed me that she had a new outlook. The tears were gone. The pleasure of her own creation bloomed.

Ah, if only we could find a way to bottle this to send along with her to school. :)

PS: We have a new house rule. "L" may come here to play as often as she wants. Ruth is no longer allowed to play over there. It is a sad thing, but I think it is for the best.