My young gourmand

One day, at the height of my illness over the last couple of weeks, Tag offered to start some water for ramen noodles for me. I've supervised him turning on the fire many times and he has shown me remarkable responsibility in this area, so I said ok and turned an attentive ear to the kitchen as I sat in the living room. Hearing the stove light after just a couple of clicks, I went back to what I was doing and paid little mind to the water, knowing how dang vigilant he is as far as letting me know when the water comes to a boil. Next thing I knew, he was telling me that my food was ready. What?? I went into the kitchen to find this:


He had prepared the soup completely on his own. The taste and texture were precisely as I would prepare it and he made surprisingly little mess. I still felt awful but how could I turn down a serving of his very first completely independent culinary creation?

This morning I found the oats and sugar out on the counter and thought that Man had miraculously made his own breakfast (I don't ever see him in the morning on early formation days -- I don't like waking at 4am) but then found a bowl of perfectly cooked oatmeal on the table. Tag had made it while I fed Frieda in the back bedroom.

I never knew that he actually paid that much attention when I was cooking. Maybe by the time he's 10 I can give him half the cooking and just do the dishes. Wouldn't that be nice! He has been asking to make his own scrambled eggs... maybe it's time to just let him.