Cooking with Mommie

I love this blurry picture - well not the blurry part, but this is what we deal with whenever we are in the kitchen cooking up some goodness. This little 2-1/2 yr old thang thinks he gets to grab a spoon, climb up on the counter and sneak samples of the goods - it's just part of the normal routine for him. It's really funny because he only uses those plastic spoons for this type of activity - not for eating meals at the table. And the sitting on the knees business - I love it. I've always had children shadow me in the kitchen when cooking. It used to somewhat annoy me because it would take longer to cook, usually meant more messes to clean up, etc. But now I've learned that allowing them to "help" has created children who love to cook, experiment, and love good food. It's also fun mommy/child time.

There have been wonderful paybacks for having children learning to cook and some not-so-wonderful paybacks (my hips can prove that). But, this is how it's done here at our house and whenever I look at this picture, it reminds me of this little kid and all the previous ones before him who took their place on top of the counter to have some special mommie time and some nibbles, too.