DAY 837 Alice Bee is basically turning into a whiz within the kitchen. She’s nonetheless no longer allowed to sit down at the counter whereas cooking (we’re doing our greatest to honor Jen’s rules), however it doesn’t topic simply because she’s now tall adequate to arrive the burners by way of status at the oven door. This newfound freedom within the kitchen has encouraged a little a culinary renaissance round our apartment. Alice Bee’s recognition to element and concentrate on reaching perfection within the kitchen job my memory loads of myself while i used to be first studying to prepare dinner. To paraphrase my outdated guy, she particularly is a chip off the outdated cow. this present day supplied the critical instance of ways devoted she is to perfecting her craft. i feel such a lot domestic chefs may most likely be chuffed with pancakes which are nearly completely around, yet no longer Alice Bee. No, she saved pouring, flipping, and stacking these johnnycakes until eventually she bought one who used to be ideal adequate to correctly calculate pi. by the point she was once performed, i used to be confronted with the most important stack of flapjacks I’d ever tackled—it took 5 hours, 3 bottles of syrup, and a whole roll of antacid, yet we ultimately ate all of them. and each final one was once scrumptious. i actually love that child. DAY 843 I quite don’t brain paying taxes. I determine it is helping make up for all of the highway indicators I stole as a child and all the (fake and genuine) 911 calls I make. Plus, with the ability to win any argument with my lieutenant colonel spouse by way of asserting, “Oh yeah? good, my taxes pay your wage! ” is cause by myself to grin every year while the taxman comes a-calling. Jen ordinarily prepares our every year returns, yet this 12 months Alice Bee has agreed to select up the mantle when you consider that Jen is away. And the superb information? in accordance with Alice Bee’s calculations, I may be receiving an important refund this yr! I wasn’t even conscious that lets declare Katje and Elliott as dependents, yet Alice Bee has studied the tax code and swears it’s criminal. DAY 861 When I took Alice Bee to paintings with me final week, we glided by a number of protesters in Lafayette Park. She used to be instantly intrigued and commenced asking me every kind of questions that I had no thought easy methods to resolution. I inspired her to move seek advice from the organizers at once if she relatively desired to recognize extra and briskly forgot in regards to the entire factor. This morning I woke to chants of “No Justice, No Peas! ” open air my entrance door. bringing up various violations, together with pressured obligatory naptime and an hourly fruit snack cost that falls good less than the criminal minimal criteria, Alice Bee made up our minds that this day (May Day) is the proper chance to precise her frustrations with administration. After greater than six hours on the desk, we eventually signed a collective bargaining contract (CBA) that comes with language to increase her bedtime by way of thirty mins but additionally calls for her to ensure my activities web page and occasional are able to cross each one morning, rain or shine. DAY 865 As I realized in Korea, Alice Bee is particularly taken with honoring different cultures and their traditions, and our newly signed CBA displays this—she insisted on together with language requiring us to have fun at domestic each vacation she learns approximately in preschool.