Self Serve, Soft Soap, and Soft Serve

The kids are getting so big. There seem to be daily evidences of this:

I have completely dropped using the washcloths after meals and am now allowing them to go and stand on the stools in the bathroom and wash their hands at the sink all by themselves. This is something they could have done eons ago probably, but for the sake of time, convenience, and lack of maturity (on their part, not mine), I procrastinated. So, they now enjoy standing at the sink and letting the water trickle over their hands while they make funny faces in the mirror at themselves. They are even good about wiping up any stray puddles when they are done. Shaylen looks so cute when she turns to me with pride and says, "I did it all by myself, Mommy!"

Did you know that there is great fun to be had in pumping out an enormous amount of softsoap? Apparently, in order to do a really good job, you need soap for each hand and then a generous amount for your face. We'll need to buy a new refill soon and continue to teach Marshall that he only needs a little. At least we're killing germs, right?

Last funny for the day: We had finished dinner tonight and I had dished out a small scoop of ice cream for all of us. I usually break theirs up and stir it around to enable them to take smaller bites and thereby avoid brain freezes. After I had handed them each their "soft serve" ice cream, Shaylen looked at Marshall and said, "Try to take small bites." She sounded just like me.