All cells show size homeostasis owing to coordination of division with growth. In this issue, Allard et al. (2018. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201709171) establish that transient inhibitory visits of a negative regulator of Cdk1 to cortical oligomeric platforms increase in number and duration with cell growth, suggesting how Cdk1 activation is coupled to cell size.