Barista

Leo is a well-known and well-documented coffee drinker. He is also becoming infamous for his fierce determination to be independent and to do everything himself...

Summer has made us deliciously lazy in the mornings, since there's no bus to catch. Still, my morning coffee is essential to the success of the day. We've gotten into the habit of setting up the coffeemaker the night before, then asking Aidan, our earliest riser, to push the button to start the brew before settling in for morning cartoons. Yesterday, Leo was the first one up, so Jeff carefully explained to Leo what to do, and our coffee was ready without a hitch.

This morning, however, was a little different. I was soundly sleeping; Jeff was bleary eyed when he simply said, "Leo, can you go make the coffee?" The exuberant "SURE!" should have tipped him off, but alas, it did not. Moments later I was awakened by the sound of the coffee grinder - and the next moment, Jeff shot out of bed and down the stairs to discover our little Barista had dragged his chair over to the cupboards, pulled down the coffee grinder, plugged it in (gasp!!), filled the grinder with beans without spilling a single one, and even took care to cover the grinder with a towel - our usual protocol for lessening the volume of the grinder. Jeff delicately explained to Leo that all he needed to do was to push the button to make the coffee, and that Daddy didn't intend for him to plug anything in or grind any beans.

Leo announced, "Oh! This is the coffee I am making for tonight. I already started the other coffee."