Cooking With A Toddler

Wow. It's like she was in my kitchen last night.

MetaBoy was in a pretty good mood, so when I started making dinner, he came over to the kitchen and hung out. He had his little bowl, took a spoon from the drawer, and started spooning imaginary food. I thought "precious!!" So I gave him his little pot and lid so he could cook properly alongside MetaMommy. He had his fun, then proceeded to use the pot and lid to make precious little dents in the floor.

Then half-way through, as per his recent inclinations, he climbs up on the dining room chair and sits at the table. He starts by signing for food...then whining for food...then wailing for food. All of this, mind you, took no more than 30 seconds.

So, I calmly ask him "what's wrong? What would you like?" He signs that he's hungry. So I make him a little snack, and put it on the table in front of him. It entertained him for a few minutes, but all the while I've got my eye on him like a hawk because he loves throwing food on the floor. Why? Because he can. The other reason? Because climbing on the chair is only half the fun. The other half is standing on it. Standing on the chair gives him a one-way ticket back to the floor with a very stern warning, which he usually chuckles at as he runs off to find his car, Elmo puppet, or book.

On the bright side, he didn't spend the evening doing his other favorite trick. Whining non-stop while hugging my leg as I drag him across the kitchen in my feeble attempt to make dinner. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth across the the kitchen. Our only saving grace is that the kitchen is tiny and ridiculously well-laid out, so there isn't that much dragging involved. That said, this behavior is usually rewarded by some Sesame Street and Cheerios. We're good as long as that lasts, but once the kitchen "dance" resumes, all we can do is clasp our hands together and hope MetaDaddy will walk through that front door before we become uncivilized. Poor MetaDaddy for the knot of stress he walks into on those special days.

But last night wasn't that bad. Makes me think about getting a dog, though ;-)