did we buy the keurig for the kid?

If we ever move, there are certain things I will really insist on taking. The first thing is our Keurig. Man, I love that thing! And we use it for so much more than coffee and tea. You can add the hot water for oatmeal or for Ramen or instant macaroni. It's such a great device.

My budding little chef has been exploring her way around the kitchen. She has advanced from pancakes on the griddle to egg sandwiches on the stove. And she rotates in fruit smoothies at breakfast now, too. She likes using our little Ninja blender. She has been improving her baking skills. Even the cookie decorating skills have kicked it up a notch. 

Last night we made homemade fried rice and I gave her instant rice to cook while I sautéed the chicken. If only she read the directions... I mean, why read the directions!? It's three little steps... Oh dear. She adds the rice and the water and starts to boil, only to realize that you need to boil the water only first. So she uses the strainer to strain out the water and leaves the wet rice in the strainer while she re-measures and reboils the water. I mean, I personally would've read the directions AND followed them. But she's 12. She's got this! 😂 Fortunately, the rice turned out okay.

While we waited for the food to cook, she made us cocoa with the Keurig. A regular gal would do cocoa with whipped cream or marshmallows. Not this gal. Just like everything else she does in the kitchen, it's go big or go home. She has been experimenting with flavors by adding my coffee creamers or extracts. 

Not too shabby! If she likes to cook, I like that. If she is self-sufficient, I like that. If she is creative and having fun, I like that. She always offers to make me one of whatever she is having. 95% of the time she even cleans most of the messes up. 

These are the appliances we have that she can safely use and will eventually go wherever I go:

Keurig

Electric griddle

Waffle/panini maker (she makes eggs in hers!)

A Ninja (or other blender)

An air fryer (safer than the stove) 

Toaster

when you show your kid the real...

It has been interesting over here transitioning from a younger kid to an older kid/preteen. We have been learning the ropes as we go and there are all the feels over here. The little, cutsie things are old hat and she just wants to weed out some of the young kid stuff and only do the fun (to her) stuff. It is sad to think some of those fun parenting things are over. However, we now get a break and can just enjoy more time together.

The tooth fairy went to the wayside during Covid because if we were quarantined, how could she get in?! And there went the Easter bunny. THOSE were fine by me. Digging around for an old tooth at night and remembering the money... Trying to explain how a tiny bunny reached our door handle to get in... I am good that this part is over. She was too smart for those tales anyways.

We haven't colored Easter eggs in a couple years. I always offer, but nah. Do you want to do an egg hunt? Nah. We haven't carved a pumpkin in years because she says, EW. Granted, we did paint them two years ago, but that was it. No carving or decorating. 

Santa is gone. That makes wrapping easier! But then there goes sprinkling reindeer food in the yard and leaving out milk and cookies :(. My absolute favorite of all this--- NO MORE ELF!!! No more popping out of bed to move that thing in the middle of the night. No more hearing, "How come so and so's elf does cooler stuff than mine?!" So, there's another back and forth on the fence of growing up. Only one set of wrapping paper! But... no more cutsie pictures, no more Santa lap photos. 

There's just too much to take in! For every relief it's over, I mentally groan that it is indeed over. Now she can move the Elf every time little friends come over. We will eat the cookies and drink the milk before bed. She can pass the reindeer "food" recipe to her little cousin. The spirit will live on. It will just look different. 

My head is relieved, but my heart is torn. We didn't even carol because she didn't want to be embarrassed. Oh, to be a preteen again! In the meantime, I can enjoy the actual moments with her and not wake up panicking that I forgot some key memory she should be having. I don't have to force canned memories and or cheesey photos upon her. We can sip our decaf coffee drinks, drive all night looking for the cool Christmas lights, and then come home to watch girly romantic Christmas movies 😀