A glorious thing happened recently. One night, Mama left a small pitcher of milk on one of the bottom shelves of the fridge, and explained everything to Siena.

The next morning, after she got up and went downstairs, she saw Siena and Thalia sitting at the kitchen island, bowls full of cereal and milk, glasses full of milk, Thalia bibbed, and the girls happily chowing down “at the bar,” as they call it. Yes!

Another day, we heard them get up at 5 AM and make racket like a comedy farce, opening and closing doors like they were rehearsing Noises Off. Nevertheless, as we stubbornly resisted rousing ourselves, they eventually made their way downstairs, and the noise subsided. Then at 6:10 AM we heard them tromping back upstairs into the bathroom. By 6:15 they had gotten themselves up, fed, and brushed teeth, and were ready to play. Fortunately they are also good at keeping themselves occupied, so even though we were awake at 5, we didn’t actually have to get out of bed until just before 7.

We could really get used to this whole getting-themselves-breakfast-at-the-bar situation.