Reese has her first chore.

A few weeks ago, Andrew began asking Reese if she wanted to help him feed Miles. She got really excited about it and would follow him around, getting the food, filling the bowl and then, her favorite part, giving the command, “Miles, EAT.”

The other night Reese was coloring in the kitchen when all of a sudden she got out of her chair and ran past me muttering to herself, “I have to feed Miles.” I cracked up. I thought she was going to pretend to feed her or something, but no, she busted into the office, opened the office closet door (whaaat!?!) took out the Tupperware container filled with the dry dog food, carried it into the hallway, set it on the floor next to Miles’s dish, stuck her hand in and began putting the food in the dish, piece by piece.

I know this probably doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it was. I was blown away. It’s a mom thing I guess (I promise I mean that in the most un-obnoxious and maybe slightly sarcastic way possible.) In that moment she was now officially a kid. Baby no more.

It took her at least 15 minutes to fill up Miles’s dish. Miles waited patiently nearby, a puddle of drool forming at her feet.

Thus, Reese’s first chore was born, and we have learned that she is fiercely protective of it.

Last night when Andrew asked her to help him again, she got real pissed, real fast, when he tried to pour the food out of the container into the dish. She kept yelling “By hand!” which we can only assume  means she prefers to take the food out morsel by morsel using her hands. She gets even more fired up when the canned food is introduced into the mix. When Andrew began spooning it into the dish she yelled, “get away!” Sidenote: I know for a fact that she got that phrase from me so I just cowered in shame while Andrew looked at her in disbelief.

We have no idea why she hates the canned food, but think it has something to do with the fact that she feels that it messes up the dry food creation she has carefully crafted.

I vividly remember heated arguments with sisters over whose turn it was to feed our dog back in the day, so I am embracing this brief period of time when chores are new and exciting and being helpful is fun. Like most other things, I’m sure it will be over before I’m  ready.