"Help cook, Mama!"

Buster is now old enough to "help" cook.  Does it take me twice as long to prepare a meal with him helping? Of course it does.  Is it totally cute and worth it?  Yes (most of the time).

This helping started within the last two months.  I finally trusted him enough to stand on a kitchen chair pulled up to the counter and not cause himself bodily harm.  Every Friday night is Pizza Friday in our house.  Buster won't eat pizza yet but the kid LOVES to help make "Peep-a Dough!!"  That's how this whole thing started.  I didn't want him to be freaked out by the noise from the Kitchenaid when I use it.  So, I thought if I showed it to him in action, he'd be okay with it.  He is.  But he also really wanted to participate in pouring ingredients into the bowl.  And, I thought if he would stick his fingers in wet, sticky pizza dough it would be great.  He doesn't love touching the dough when it's covered in olive oil at the end but he'll do it for a second just to make me happy.  Then we have to "wash hand!  wash hand!"  It's still a win in my book.

Within a few days he started showing an interest in whatever I was doing in the kitchen.  I let him participate in any kitchen work or food prep that he wants in on.  He puts groceries away.  He gets things out of the fridge.  (He also puts things in the fridge when I'm not paying attention.  I found a Fisher Price bowling pin in there last week.)  He loves to help unload the dishwasher, he does the bottom rack and I do the top.  Shockingly, no dishes have been broken and if it happens, it's not a huge deal.  Washing dishes in the sink is his favorite activity in the world.  Not holding my breath that that one will last too many years but a mom can dream.  And, when I start chopping veggies or fruit he's right there.  I have him pick them up and put them in a bowl or on a plate (whether I really need them there or not) just so he will interact with them.  He touched wet diced tomatoes this week.  That was a huge victory.  He even touched some chopped broccoli to his lips recently.  He didn't eat it but SOS therapy in action!!!  Yippy!

He's much more interested in foods now.  Even at the grocery store, I give him the produce to hold and then he puts it in the basket in front of him.  The grocery store we go to has awesome carts shaped like cars that he gets to "drive" and he's a very active participant in the shopping trip.  He names foods, he tells me their colors or counts the number of whatever it is we are getting.  I give him choices "purple cauliflower or white cauliflower?"  He may not be eating cauliflower but he is engaged and that's progress.

He starts to get excited in the late afternoon because he knows it's going to be time to cook soon.  "Help cook, Mama!"  One of these days he's going to be excited enough about something we are cooking together that he's going to eat it.  He'll be proud of his effort.  He'll be excited about whatever choices he's been allowed to make in the process of preparing the meal.  And, he will want to put some in his mouth.  It might be next month.  It might be next year or the year after that.  But, it is going to happen.