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Casita steadied the wobbling stool Mirabel stood on, the effort she put into kneading the dough pushing her back a little on the crooked seat.
“Thanks Casita!”
“Mirabel?” She heard, surprise in the voice. “What are you doing in the kitchen by yourself?”
“Amá!” The little girl hopped off of the stool with a small huff and ran over to hug her mothers leg - the highest she could reach - doing her best not to get her sticky hands on her apron or dress. “Since you’re always out cooking for everyone, I wanted to cook for you instead!”
Julieta looked around, concerned, but to her surprise the kitchen wasn’t nearly as messy as she thought - probably thanks to Casita’s help. She couldn’t say the same for her daughter though, the girl's dress covered hem to hem with cheese and masarepa of varying levels of doughiness, her hair and glasses similarly coated apart from where her messy little fingers had smeared away the flour in the middle of the lens so she could see.
That dress is going to be a nightmare to clean.
“That’s so sweet of you, mija.” Julieta swelled, petting her daughter's hair (leading to a small plume of masarepa dusting out.) “You look like you’re doing a great job, how far have you gotten?”
“Casita is just heating up the pan for me, I wanted to get it done before you got back so you had food as soon as you walked in!” Julieta looked over to see the dark skillet hot and ready for some oil and dough.
“Ay mija, be careful, what if you burned yourself and I didnt have any emergency food left?”
“But maaaaamiiiiiiii!” Mirabel whined dramatically, clinging onto her apron and giving her those giant, pleading eyes that turned her whole soul to putty. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Well it would definitely be a surprise to see your pretty little hands all burned to pieces, cariña.” She tried not to be too stern, but she really didn’t want to think about all the ways her youngest daughter could be hurt if she wasn’t there. Julieta didn’t want to be by her daughter's side all day (though she did enjoy it), but she was so young and didn’t even get a gift so she could help herself. She was her adorable little girl but everyone was so harsh on her since her gift ceremony, abuela not even comforting her own granddaughter before insisting the party continue as normal. Even if the rest of the family would abandon her, Julieta wouldn’t.
“Come on mija, let’s get these cooking.”
Julieta gently took her daughter's hand in hers and led her to the stove top, smiling softly at the feeling of her daughter's soft little hands covered in sticky dough and masarepa. Mirabel was such a bright and lively little thing, Julieta couldn’t help but love her. She felt a similar way for her other two daughters when they were Mirabel's age - and at their current ages. They both had grown into such beautiful and wonderful girls, but Julieta couldn’t deny that she loved them especially at such a small and huggable size, so easy to pick up and kiss and do whatever she wanted.
“Mamiii!” Mirabel giggled, finding herself being lifted off her feet like a doll and being kissed deep on the crook of her neck. “I’m ticklish!”
“Are you? I hadn’t noticed.” Julieta had her arms around her daughter's waist above the plume of her skirt and had her resting on her hip.
“Ma! You know I’m ticklish!” The little girl insisted.
“Hmm? Where? I’d know if my precious little girl was ticklish. Is it here? Here? Maybe here?” She peppered kisses on all the places she could reach, hands grabbing gently on her sides and stomach in a way that made Mirabel squeal out with laughter. Julieta took one hand off of her daughter, hugging Mirbel close to her as she brushed away a clean spot on the counter before setting her down, close enough to the stove that she could see but not close enough that any oil or heat could have the possibility of reaching her.
“Could you pass me your dough, mijita?”
Mirabel reached over to grab the hunk of dough on the counter next to her, holding it in her lap for Julieta to pull away a handful, rolling and flattening the ball in her hands before placing it into the pan. It sizzled gently at the heat, Julieta watching her daughter’s eyes light up as she watched like it was the most interesting thing in the whole world. Mirabel held out the ball of dough again, her mother taking a few more small handfuls to press into the pan.
“Do you want the spatula mami?”
“That would be great, thank you.”
The girl leaned far across the countertop, almost knocking the skillet with her foot as she reached for the spatula. Julieta watched her, frilly little skirt ruffled to her knees and her tongue out as she focused on drawing the wooden handle closer to her grasp before finally gasping out and lunging back up with the spatula in hand. The movement was too sharp however, with Mirabel rolling off of the counter as soon as she lurched up.
“I’m ok!” She held the spatula up triumphantly from where she was on the floor, her mother dipping down to grab it.
“What am I going to do with you?” She sighed, flipping the arepas. “They’ll be done soon, mijita, venga.”
“Yep!”
Casita pushed the stool over for Mirabel to climb back onto the countertop, the girl swinging her legs and humming happily while watching the arepas brown around the edges, cheese melting down and bubbling on the pan. There was another few light hisses as Julieta once more flipped the arepas, scooping up the first one she set in the pan to see it was nicely browned and ready to eat, setting it on the countertop next to Mirabel.
“Eat it while it’s hot, cariña.”
“But I made these for you mami…”
Julieta’s heart flooded.
“Don’t worry, there are more in the pan.”
“I want you to have the first one!”
“But you worked so hard making them.”
Mirabel huffed before holding a small edge of the arepa in her mouth.
“Gnow we cah boff habe i’!” She announced triumphantly, her mother chuckling lightly to herself before tucking away one of Mirabel’s stray hairs to lean in for a bite. It was cheesy and doughy, not bad for her first try all by herself.
They grow up so fast!
“Ish it good?” Mirabel asked, arepa still held in between her teeth.
“You did wonderful.”
“Really!!” The little girl was ecstatic, swinging her little feet and accidentally dropping the arepa from her mouth onto her lap.
“Really.” She leant back down to pick the arepa up and put it back in the girls mouth before kissing her softly on the forehead. “Eat up ok? I’ll grab a plate so we can share these with everyone.”
“Mmm! Bove yuu m’mi!”