I made two huge cakes for this weekend--1 for my best friend and one for my niece. My friend was ubber picky about what she wanted and it was a lot of work. Even though it turned out great--the whole family got the stomach flu. I basically threw the cake in the house and got OUT of there before my 2 year old and I could catch it. They had the party anyway and everyone loved the cake--but there were a few hours there that I thought the whole thing would be cancelled. (this is the Alice in Wonderland cake, btw)
NEXT cake! My niece wanted a princess cake. Each tier is a different princess with a Cinderella carriage on top. The Snow White tier turned out beautifully! The only problem I had was with the big red bow in the front....I had to make it like 6 times!! The Rapunzel tier was another story. I kept having to scrape the icing off and start again. I wasn't totally happy with it, but I finally decided to leave it and as my husband keeps saying, "free cake!" Anyway. I cleaned up the kitchen and threw away the extras and began to make dinner. The cake was in the MIDDLE of the table so nothing could happen to it until my husband could move it because I am on restrictions right now because I am going through IVF and not allowed to pick things up. I suddenly hear my son say "MMM That's good!" I look and see his smiling little face coming around the corner with the red fondant bow in hand and yellow icing on his mouth. AHHH! Now, this is by far not the worst thing he has done to one of my cakes, but I was FINISHED with a long and hard week. I couldn't be too mad at him--he is growing up and so much taller than I think- and at least he liked it, right? He also knew it was his cousin's cake and was excited that he was going to get to eat it. But still. I now have two fondant bows on the counter and I hope that they are dry enough by the party tomorrow. So much cake this week. I want to sit down!

Wow! You help give me a perspective! I was beginning to feel like I've been putting too much effort into "free" cakes (two in two days - just finished the 2nd) - but mine are super simple compared to yours. It's' no wonder you're exhausted! And two year olds don't know - he did give you a great compliment too. At least it's "fixable" - even though you don't really want to deal with the cake anymore (and rightfully so!).

A good friend told me that his mom did cakes when he was little - and he did something like that to one of hers. They both survived and now it's a funny story. (Many years later of course! lol!)

I have two small children also, ages 6 and 4. I've been doing cakes their whole lives. The kitchen is off limits when I have a completed cake on the table. It is too labor intensive and time consuming (kids' time and mine) for the cake to get ruined. Two years old is a perfect time to set boundaries. I guess I don't take it lightly when a hand goes into frosting or something more complicated gets ruined. They can learn at 2 how not to touch a cake as well as they learn to use the potty and don't write on the wall.

He is usually pretty good. We talk about who the cake is for and why and how they would cry if Dane ate/touched/broke it. I think the difference was the fact that he knew this one was for his cousin--another 2 year old. I think the bow is going to be just fine by the party today and poor boy will finally get a piece of cake after watching Mommy all week with cake!

Baking cakes at home is hard on kids. Kitchens are often off limits, mom's attention is severely limited - at least mine is. After I made my first wedding cake my 7 yo asked if I could please not make more cakes for a while.
I'm glad it will all work out fine for you!