The reason my Dyson is full of cake crumbs

Since tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, I thought it would be nice if darling daughter and I decorated cupcakes.

I can't wait for the day until we can bake together. But if this morning's events were any indication, that day is likely a couple of years away.

With the cupcakes made last night, we were all set to decorate this morning. I got out the green candies, including the green M&Ms I painstakingly picked out of a bin at Bulk Barn for about 15 minutes (I used the scoop, not my hands) And we got down to work.

In reality, I decorated while darling daughter made a mess. While I had my back turned for a moment, darling daughter got a hold of two undecorated cupcakes. I keep on forgetting that darling daughter has an amazing reach. I can't keep anything on the table anymore because usually ends up in her little hands. The cupcakes kept her occupied while I started decorating. At about 20 months, there is no way that darling daughter could actively participate in the decorating process without making a mess or getting bored.

Although I did give her a cupcake to decorate, it didn't go over so well. Firstly, she grabbed the jelly bean and popped it into her mouth. Worried that she'd choke (perhaps jelly beans weren't the greatest of choices in terms of a topping) I fished it out of her mouth, resulting in her bursting into tears. I grabbed some M&Ms, sprinkled them on top of the cupcake and let her play with it. As she was dissembling the cupcake, getting icing on her hands and eating the M&Ms, I went to work. It was fun watching darling daughter "decorating" and I enjoyed decorating the cupcakes. While a huge mess was made that involved giving darling daughter a bath and me getting out the Dyson to vacuum chunks of cake, we had lots loads of fun. And that's what childhood is about: fun, messes and memories.