We paused for a moment yesterday and paid homage to,
The Pancake.
Yes, indeed.
National Pancake Day.
A day for reverence.
Pancakes hold a place near and dear in our hearts.
In some brilliant luck in motherhood, I had 5 young children convinced that pancakes are to be eaten plain. All of those head to toe, syrupy sticky messes made by little ones who consume a short stack -- not here. Plain, boring and clean was the way to eat a pancake in the Larson house and I counted that blessing every time I served them up.
Pancakes are also special because it was one of Bridger's first oral foods (second only to the waffle - that we honor in August). Bridger's diet, outside of enteral feeds, was exclusive to pancakes for years.
We rejoiced at his consumption of them.
Pancake vomit cleanup was frequent - and much preferred over the formula puking.
We are all versed at the oral finger sweep to free gooey pancakes lodged in the roof of his mouth that he cannot motorically manage...and can initiate such action rather quickly before more pancake vomit follows.
"Pancake" was one of his first signs. He then learned his first "signing sentence" when he added "drive car" before his pancake sign, which meant, "I want to go to McDonalds for some hot cakes."
That signing sequence became burned as a forever memory on my heart. After one of Bridger's massive seizures - a time that we were sure we had lost him, and he was intubated and severely sedated for days to allow his brain to recover, I was watching his little lifeless body finally regain consciousness in his hospital bed. With a single eye barely half open, he looked at me and signed "drive car, pancake" and smiled a lopsided smile. You had better believe that this momma jumped out of her chair and got some McD's hotcakes delivered to his room STAT.
So to those of you that celebrate with us, and for those for whom yesterday was just another day, I say to you on behalf of the flapjack, griddle cake, hotcake loving Larsons,
Happy National Pancake Day!