A Fluffy Breakfast
One early Saturday morning found Neil at the kitchen counter, stirring a bowl filled with dry and wet ingredients, when he heard a happy shriek of, "Daddy!"
He turned in time to see Grace, still in her pajamas, bound into the kitchen and hug his legs.
"Good morning, Gracie," Neil greeted, smiling down at his three-year-old daughter. "What are you doing up so early?"
"You're making pancakes today!" she exclaimed, beaming up at him, her green eyes alight with excitement. "Remember, Daddy? You promised me last night!"
"Yes, I remember. You wanna help?"
Grace's only answer was to nod vigorously. Neil picked her up in his arms and guided her hand to the whisk resting in the bowl. "Can you stir the batter for me?"
"Yes!" And with that, Grace rapidly stirred the batter round and round, her grip on the whisk's handle as tight as her tiny fist would allow. "Uh-oh!" she cried out as some of the batter spilled from the bowl and dripped down to the countertop.
"It's okay, hun," Neil said, turning Grace around in his arms and kissing her temple. "It's just a little spill—we can clean it up later. Now," he added, smiling again, "how about putting in some chocolate chips?"
That got Grace to perk right back up. "I can have chocolate chips!?" she squealed.
"You sure can," Neil told her, his smile becoming a grin. He set Grace back down on the floor and got the bag of chocolate chips out of the refrigerator. While she hopped from foot to foot in her enthusiasm, he set the bag down on the counter and untied it. With that done, he picked her up again. "Pour as many chocolate chips as you want."
Grace didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed the bag in both hands, tipped it over the bowl, and laughed in delight as a flood of chocolate chips spilled into the batter. When Neil checked inside after she put the bag down, he saw that there was only a small handful of chocolate chips remaining. He shifted Grace so that he now had his right arm wrapped around her and snatched up the leftover chocolate chips with his free hand.
"Want a pre-breakfast snack?" he asked, putting her down once more.
Grace nodded eagerly, her smile nearly splitting her olive face in half.
"Don't tell Mama I let you have chocolate so early in the morning," Neil said as he bent down to her level and handed her the chocolate chips. He put a finger to his lips and added, "It'll be our little secret, okay?"
"'Kay," Grace agreed, stuffing the chocolate chips into her mouth.
After telling her to sit down and wait for breakfast to be ready, the next thing to do was to cook the pancakes. Neil grabbed the bowl and a clean spoon from the silverware drawer and stepped to the oven, where the frying pan, alongside a warming plate of a short stack of blueberry pancakes for Eva, was waiting. The batter he poured into the pan looked more like pure chocolate than pancake mix, but it cooked all the same. A little over fifteen minutes later, Neil had his and Grace's own short stacks of pancakes cooked, buttered, and on plates, plus cups of chocolate milk made for them.
"So how are they?" Neil asked after breakfast was served, watching Grace munch on a piece of her syrup-drenched chocolate chip pancakes.
She beamed at him, her face already messy with pancake crumbs, syrup, and chocolate. "Yummy!"
"Having dessert for breakfast there, Neil?"
Neil turned to see Eva standing in the dining room's threshold, her plate of pancakes in her left hand, the glass of orange juice he'd made earlier in her right, and a very unamused look on her face.
"Hi, Mama!" Grace switched her gaze to Eva, as happy as ever. "Daddy gave me chocolate!"
"That was supposed to be a secret, Grace," Neil reminded her.
"Uh-oh!" Grace's face fell. "Sorry, Daddy. I forgot."
"That's all right, princess," he answered, taking an overly-chocolatey bite of his pancakes.
Sighing, Eva sat down at the table, poured syrup on her pancakes, and started eating. "Did you seriously have to put so many chocolate chips in those pancakes?"
"Actually, Grace did that," Neil said.
"And you didn't think to stop her?"
"I'm teaching her autonomy."
Eva gave a pointed look at Grace cheerily devouring her pancakes, blissfully unaware of what her parents were talking about. "How in the name of cucumbers is letting our daughter dump an entire bag of chocolate chips into pancake batter supposed to teach her autonomy?"
"I'm letting her make her own decisions," Neil replied, taking a swig of his chocolate milk.
Eva dropped her fork with a clatter, looking at him in exasperation. "Neil, she's three!"
"So? Never too early to start, right?"
Rolling her eyes, Eva took a sip of her orange juice. "Just so you know, you'll be the one dealing with the inevitable sugar rush."
