Da Count - Licking Your Fingers

A few weeks ago, Alexander and I decided to try out the "super easy" recipe for peanut butter cookies that we'd been reading on the back of the KRAFT peanut butter jar for years. (Yes, that very same "Teddy Bear" KRAFT peanut butter which gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling all over and has done since I was a child)

Having always been one to jump right into the thick of things and be involved in each of the details of a process (one of the best way to learn about things, in my opinion) Alexander quite enjoyed the experience of mixing the ingredients -- which werepretty simple, since all it really involved was KFAFT peanut butter, sugar and an egg. We thought it might be a nice touch to add chocolate chips (me being a big fan of that peanut butter and chocolate medley) and we created the Dad and Alex Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie.

One of the sweetest moments during the making of the cookies was when Alexander paused in mixing the batter to dip his finger into the bowl and lick it, eager to sample what we were making.

It, of course, spoke to me -- not of the urgency of everything when you're a child, but of the simple act of stopping to lick your fingers -- I suppose the phrase is more commonly spoken as "stopping to smell the flowers." The end result is the same, taking a moment to pause and enjoy the moment, revel in the process rather than the destination.

I keep thinking I'm teaching my son things about the world, but all along, he's the one teaching me. That's what I'm counting this week as I pause to savor that knowledge.