One of the many difficulties of parenthood is not being able to congratulate your offspring when they accomplish feats like this. Seriously, I’m proud of the little guy. How could you not be? This is not a rebellious act. The dude simply wanted some cookies and through a focused determination, razor sharp ingenuity and an undying persistence he accomplished his goal and met his stated objective. When I walked in on this I wanted to give him a high five, tell him how proud I was and hug him until his cheeks burst, but that would only encourage more of it, which is a struggle for me because he’s sort of a badass and I like that. On the other hand, I have to protect him and I don’t want him to fall off the counter in a crazed cookie sugar high. So, inside my head I have a silent victory party for my little spiderman and to him I said something like, “Dude, seriously? Get down from there!” This is also a good time to mention that if Coral caught me giving him a high five for this I’d be sleeping on the couch for a week. Here’s a secret though, I am pretty sure Elliott can see the look of proudness I have for him in my eyes. Afterall, I did let him eat a cookie and that’s like rewarding him for climbing on the counter. So basically, guys shouldn’t be parents.

Now let’s all eat a cookie and pat ourselves on the back.

– Jeff