Milestones

Ryan and I made cookies this afternoon and I noticed we have reached a milestone in our family. (Drum roll, please.) Every one of our children is now tall enough to help in the kitchen without needing a stool, step-ladder, box, chair, bench, plastic tote, bucket, etc. to stand on in order to see and/or help add ingredients. Neither does anyone need to be sitting on the counter in order to see when a taller someone is already using the stool, step-ladder, box, chair, bench, plastic tote, bucket, etc. The only issue we still have is when Ryan needs to get something out of a top cupboard. But, he is tall enough to just jump up. No more dragging stools, step-ladders, chairs, benches, plastic totes, buckets, etc. into the kitchen to block mom into a 2 square foot space and then leaving them there for her to trip over until she puts them away (because, apparently, it's my fault I mix on the counter instead of the lower table, thus making it my job to put the selected height enhancing apparatus away). What a liberating day!

I suppose I should have noticed this sooner, like when Ryan asked if he could make his own cookies this week and never once asked for help with anything. I'm not sure all the flour made it into the dough, though, because it was pretty runny. He's also not quite past the stage when any sized container counts as a cup. So, I'm thinking the right number of containers was added, but not necessarily the right amount of flour. But, I digress. I was in on the computer and helping other kiddos with homework, so I never got into the kitchen until after the "dough" was made (and mostly eaten!). I just assumed he sat up on the counter and made the dough. I guess he wasn't. He somehow grew taller without my noticing. How does that continue to happen?

Of course, this also means that everyone is now tall enough to reach into the mixer and eat the dough faster than I can actually put cookies on the pan. Oh, the trials we face!