Once Caleb discovered that he could push around our dining room chairs and stand on them, a whole new world of entertainment was opened up for him.
Recently Caleb has become quite the little helper in the kitchen. He loves to help unload the dishwasher. Every time he hands me a dish to put in a cupboard he can't reach, I've been telling him "thank you," so now he says it too. He also loves helping put away the silverware (after I've removed the sharp objects). I've realized putting away the silverware isn't that much different than doing a puzzle for him--what fun! Although, once in awhile I will find a confiscated chopstick or ladle in his toy drawer.
And then there's washing dishes. Caleb's fascination started with a plastic bowl or two, a ladle, and some water. It progressed to playing with the kitchen washcloth, the bowls and the water. Then I discovered he could reach the dish soap. Needless to say, he had a very bubbly bath that day, and all the grease was removed from his clothes in the laundry. Since then we've started a little morning routine where we do the dishes together after we eat breakfast. He gets a child safe dirty dish and usually a spatula in one sink and goes to town while I work on the rest of the dishes. Usually his dish ends up with bubbles on it, sometimes it gets clean.
Caleb also loves helping to prepare food, whether it's emptying a measuring cup into the bowl, putting the vegetables I cut up into a plastic bowl and putting on the lid, or stirring muffin batter. The hard part is stopping. Tears have been shed as the muffin batter is poured into the muffin cups and as I've lopped of the top of a red pepper.
And of course, who can resist the boy who licks the mashed potatoes off the beaters?
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