Since I was making a cheesecake to take to his friend’s party this evening, Seamus was right there in helping me. The boy’s really starting to take an interest in cooking, so as I go, I let him do a lot of it and explain why we do it that way while I go.

He’s helped me make cheesecake before, so he knows a little bit about it. Except for melting the butter, which I do because the microwave’s overhead and it’s not safe to be reaching that high for hot melty fat, he can just about do the crust by himself.

First, he pounds the cookies into crumbs. This is his favorite part, and if I don’t keep an eye on him, he pounds them into powder.

Then he mixes in the butter and puts the whole mess into the pan, which he put together too.

He’s getting over the whole ick-factor of using one’s hands to cook. We wash our hands an awful lot while we’re cooking. Seamus pats the crust down in there nicely.

He’s starting to get to use the stove a little too. I started the white chocolate melting, and he held the pan and stirred while I put the dulce de leche in. I’m glad to have him there; it’s a three-hand job.

But Seamus’ favorite kitchen tool happens to be my big mixer. Can’t blame him; it’s mine too. His job was to put everything in and run the bowl up and down while I ran the controls. I should have let him do the scraping down, now that I think of it.

And that’s it. He helped me fold this part into the whipped cream part and smooth it into the pan, and then we were done. Perhaps his next lesson should be doing the dishes?