This morning I was getting ready for church while everyone else was still sleeping.  I find it much easier to get ready when that is the case--less distractions.  Alice wondered in.  She started looking around the bathroom for things to "get into"/play with.  I asked her to go find something else to do, mainly because I didn't want her getting into trouble.  She has had a really hard time with that lately.  Off she went and I shut the door to the bathroom.  When I was nearly finished, I heard clanking downstairs in the kitchen.  A little worried about this, I woke Jake up and asked him to go check what Alice was doing.  He stumbled downstairs and wasn't sure what to do.  She was standing on a chair in the kitchen in an apron, a couple eggs were cracked and in a bowl, the frying pan was out, and she was whipping the eggs around with a wooden spoon.  Jake was very patient and let her get them ready to put in the pan--then he took over cooking the scrambled eggs while she made toast.  She has made sandwiches before, but eggs are an entirely different ballgame--a stove is involved, with flames.  I probably would not have reacted the way Jake did.  It's a good thing he went downstairs instead of me.  I need to let Alice do a little more for herself instead of doing things for her to avoid messes and taking more time.  We aren't sure how we feel about Alice being nearly able to use the stove.  It just means she is growing up, and needs us for one less thing.  Bittersweet.  And I guess I need to be a little more specific when I ask her to go and "find something to do".