Do you want to know how to make an omelette? Just ask your child.
I did. What happened was priceless.
Mom, we need eggs.
How many eggs?
17.
Wow, that is alot of eggs. We only have four more. Will that work?
Yep Mom, I’ll use two.
Ok, here you go. Now, what’s next?
Opening the eggs, Mom. Cracking them open….
Handing over the eggs to my three year old is a bit scary, but watching him carefully hold the egg, gently tapping it on the edge of the bowl as he has watched me a hundred times before is reassuring. He is really paying attention and learning to do just what I do. He does it slowly, and takes his time. And I’ve never given him a lesson, or even stopped to talk him through my actions. I just do it without thinking about it.
Most mornings he joins me as I am cooking in the kitchen. We talk about the day, his dreams from the night before. I’m usually so preoccupied with the practical side of making breakfast that I am not giving him much eye contact, simply listening and nodding my head and asking him questions about what he wants to do for the day.
However, he is watching me. My every move. He is learning. Absorbing. Even as I do such a simple task as crack an egg. I’ve never given it a second thought. I just do it. Sometimes I even have to dig out a small piece of shell that slips through (and I do this with another larger piece of the egg shell as I learned from Martha many years ago).
He manages to crack two of the eggs without any help, and tells me how pretty the yolks are. His favorite color. He says he wants to stir them up, and I ask him to find the tool he wants to use.
He asks me for the whipper, and I know just what he wants. I hand him the whisk and am thankful for these precious moments in our kitchen together, with the sun shining brightly in as we begin yet another day together.