Prep

Our oldest daughter loves eggs. Like LOVES them. She even wrote a post about them. She wakes up early every morning to make them to perfection. I, on the other hand, am a little grossed out by devouring the (basically) amniotic fluid of an unfertilized chicken. But the sweet little nugget loves 'em.  And because she gets up super early, she's tired. So I thought, well, maybe if we prepped the week's eggs, she could have a little more time in the mornings. (And the house wouldn't smell like feet.) So we made 24 egg "muffins" yesterday. Some had bacon & ham, some had bacon, ham, & cheese, some had just cheese, and some were just plain seasoned eggs. It took all of 30 minutes from prep to completion, and we put them in a ziploc bag in the fridge.

So this morning, she just popped a couple in the microwave & had a few blessed extra minutes before school.

She said it was great, but she liked her freshly prepared eggs. Ok, no bigs. It was worth a shot. But I get it. The fresh are better for sure. And it's totally ok. But how about having extra time? Was that nice? I thought so. We had an uneventful morning anyway. Except that Joe is texting me every thirty minutes so I will bring a raw potato to school. He wants to charge his earbuds with a potato. Apparently he charged them with an orange yesterday, so he's stepping up his game. And some kid said he'll give him $10 for a potato. My little entrepreneur.

Alrighty then.

Back to prepping. It reminded me of all of the stuff we did along the way while raising a family. I thought about all of the times we wrangled kids into doing things they didn't exactly want to do, but that would benefit them later. Church, for example. I cannot tell you how many times we've walked back & forth to the cry room or how many bladders I've probably ruined because I said "Go to the bathroom BEFORE church because we are not going during the hour we are there." And I stuck to my guns. Now, they potty before church without prompting, and we survive a mass without a bathroom sprint. Most of the time.

So basically, I tell the kids that the harder decision is usually the right one. If it's tougher to do now, you will reap the benefits later.

And it's so true. Even though the eggs weren't exactly what she loves, I did enjoy our time together making them. And I hope she enjoys the morning pause.