Happy Birthday, Pamela!

Yesterday, we celebrated Pamela's eighteenth birthday by taking the day off from school. Pamela has never done much in the kitchen, mainly because I have not encouraged her. Today, she helped me bake a cake, make the frosting, and decorate her birthday cake. She has never tried an electric mixer before and took to it like she was a natural in the kitchen. I tried to use many of the RDI habits we have been developing, and we had a great time!

I never have to plan "productive uncertainty" because calamities abound in my presence. While making the cake, a pan drying fell and crashed into the sink, and Pamela referenced me wonderfully. We both laughed and she asked if it was magic and I told her that it was gravity. Her brother, the cameraman, said the mixture looked like mud, and she laughed. I asked, “Mud?” She shook her head no. Then when I asked, “Is it batter?” She nodded like a champ. Then I had operator error on my part with setting the timer on the microwave! At one point in making the frosting, I wanted to indirectly hint to her that we needed sugar. I exclaimed, "It's bitter" and tasted the frosting. She thought I made a mistake, and then she tried it and make an awful face. She immediately went for the bag of powdered sugar!

To scaffold decorating the cake, I bought the Cake Mate Candy Decorations, which are gluten-free, casein-free. Her cake turned out beautiful, and it tasted delicious. My dad will usually say something if an ingredient is not just right. This gluten-free, casein-free cake was so good, he could not tell the difference. I will blog my recipes and scaffolded cake decorating ideas in another post.

Her cake turned out absolutely beautiful and much better than my first cake. I forgot the flour, so it boiled in the oven. My family called it the boi-oing cake! Perhaps, that early trauma in the kitchen has caused me to resist teaching Pamela to cook and bake.



We had a small family party and Pamela loved her presents and cake and ice cream. Even though she sat far from her cake, she blew out all eighteen candles in one shot! You would never guess that she could not blow out candles when she was four years old. She looks a bit overstimulated here and does not reference like she has been because of the intense joy she is feeling. You can see her smile very sweetly at the end of the clip.

Pamela loved her gifts so much that, after opening the last one, she had to make a victory lap through the house. She sprints to release excitement (hint: never tell Pamela great news in a parking lot).