coffee

i still miss my family. they don't come back until 9pm tonight. my loss is your gain, however, because their absence gives me a little time to do another blog post. here you go.

i drink my fair share of coffee. i usually have one (really large) cup in the morning and then an occasional cup after lunch to keep away the after-lunch sleepies. ezra, as with most things in our lives, has tried to drink my coffee which led to me kindly telling him that coffee is for grown ups. oh, and i think i might have added something like, "no one ever touches my coffee, punk!" he now knows that coffee is for adults. so what is his response? instead of drinking, he wants to smell it. he gently puts his small hands around the base of the mug and slowly cranes his neck until his tiny nose is over the top of the steaming cup. he then breathes as deep as he possibly can through his nose taking an enormous whiff of coffee smell. during his exhale he exclaims, "yummie!" it's really cute.

kendel once had a professor who had an eight-year-old that drank coffee. i'm not sure we'd allow that (though it is really cool!), but i'm pretty sure ezra would be that child if we let him. i say this because when he is smelling the coffee, he takes the occasional sip, after which he immediately looks at me with a sheepish grin knowing he wasn't supposed to do it, but also knowing he looks really cute drinking coffee at age two.

lately he has been in a "helping" phase and constantly asks to help kendel and me do things around the house. in an attempt at being good parents, we try to encourage this. therefore, when he asks to help unload the dishwasher, i try to let him put his utensils in the only drawer he can reach right now. that, of course, takes about five minutes longer than if i had just done it myself, but who's counting. i'm hoping the investment now will pay off in a few years when he begins to ask to help with larger projects like cleaning the bathrooms for me, mowing the lawn, reroofing the house, building a gazebo; you know, the typical odd jobs.

so the most recent way he has wanted to "help" is by making coffee. this is perfect. i am killing two birds with one stone: fostering his desire to help and fostering his desire to drink coffee. the following video chronicles the steps of making coffee. for those of you who don't know how to make coffee (is that possible?), this video can double as a step-by-step guide showing that even a two-year-old can make coffee. enjoy.