After cleaning things up I brought Kevin down to the kitchen and sat him on a stool at the breakfast bar.
“How would you like chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast?” I asked.
“Ooo, that sounds good. Mom never makes pancakes, she says she can’t do it without burning them.”
“Well, I’m an expert pancake flipper. I’ve never burnt one in my life. Plus, I have a new gluten free pancake recipe that is supposed to be delicious. So what do you say?”
“Yes, please.”
“You have to help though.”
“Okay, what do I have to do?”
Making pancakes from scratch really isn’t that much work, especially when it’s only for two, but I wanted to get Kevin involved, so I said, “I’ll get the ingredients together, but you have to help with the measuring and stirring.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
“It should be,” I said.
I went into the pantry and got together the supplies we needed. (The recipe is a secret, so, I’m not sharing it. But, it’s basically my mom’s using gluten free flour.) I got a mixing bowl and the measuring cups and spoons and put them all in front of Kevin. Then, I went and got two aprons from the pantry, nothing fancy or feminine, just what you’d expect to see a cook wearing who was serious about her business. I put one on myself, then I went around and put the second on Kevin.
I gave Kevin instructions about how much to measure, how to stir it together and when it was done, I could see the apron had been a good idea. Kevin was a mess.
“How’d you manage to get so much flour on you?” I asked.
“Lucky, I guess,” he answered smiling.
“I better get you cleaned up before you spread the flour all over the house. And stop eating the chocolate chips!”
I went over to him and took off the apron, careful to fold it up into itself. Then I got a wash cloth and wiped off Kevin’s face and hands. When he was reasonably clean, I shook my head and said, “What were like as a real baby?”
“Mom says I was like Pigpen from Peanuts, but I never knew what she was talking about.”
“We’ll have to do something about that!” I said. I decided to check Netflix after breakfast for Peanuts cartoons.
I got some syrup out of the fridge and put it in a little sauce pan to warm it up and then I began making the pancakes. I am an excellent cook and I have never burned a pancake and this time was no different. In no time, I had two nice size stacks of golden brown chocolate chip pancakes.
“I’m not cleaning you up again.” I told Kevin, “at least not so soon. Sit still a second.”
I went back into the pantry and into the supplies that had been delivered that morning. I walked behind Kevin and slipped a brand new, baby blue bib around his neck. It had a plain blue terry cloth front and a vinyl back. It was the least babyish bib that the drug store carried. I think it was actually meant for elderly people.
“What’s this? I don’t need this!” he whimpered.
“I think you do.” I said, “and I’m in charge, so you’re going to wear it. So don’t be such a baby about it.”
He snorted at that and said, “Fine.” Kevin has a fine sense of irony for an almost high school freshman.
I poured the syrup into a little pitcher and set it on the counter and the brought over the pancakes. Kevin poured way more syrup on his than he needed making it very sloppy. Kevin was having trouble feeding himself so I took my fork and knife and cut into Kevin’s stack. I mopped up some more syrup and brought my fork towards Kevin’s mouth. “Open Wide!” I said smiling.
He smiled back at me and then shut his mouth and crossed his arms, shaking his head.
“No?” I said and popped the fork into my mouth. “Mmm, yummy. Too bad Kevin doesn’t want any.”
I cut into it again and brought it back to his mouth, this time, he opened up and let me put the pancake in his mouth. There was so much syrup on it that it dripped down his chin and onto his bib. I put kept doing this until Kevin’s stack was about half finished. I cut the rest into little pieces for him and said, “Can you take it from here?” He nodded, so I started working on my own.
A couple of minutes later, Kevin said, “Carrie, could you help me get cleaned up.”
“Give me a minute.” I said, “I want to finish this before it gets cold.”
“Carrie, please. It feels all sticky and gross.”
“That’s what you get for using so much syrup.” I chided.
“Please!”
“Would you let me eat in peace?” I said.
“C’mon, now you’re just being mean.”
“Fine.” I put down my fork and got some wipes. I held his chin and wiped his face then I took his hands in mine and cleaned them up too.
“There, little Kevin is all clean and my pancakes are cold.” I said a bit exasperated.
He looked a bit ashamed and stared down at the floor. “I’m sorry,” he said and I could tell that he meant it.
“It’s okay, pal.” I said with a sigh and I reached over and stroked his hair. My hand came away sticky. “Yuck! How’d you get syrup in your hair?”