Toddler Chef

Over the weekend, we visited IKEA to redeem a gift card we'd received.  After lunch, we gravitated toward the kid's area and watched Daniel play with the race track and play kitchen.  We came home with two boxes full of kitchen assembly bits, felt food, pots 'n' pans, and kid-sized utensils.  Daniel has been tossing stuffed fruits and veggies all over the living room for days. 

Yesterday, my plan was to start building the kitchen while Daniel was napping.  I figured I'd wait for Jarl to get home if I found I needed another pair of hands.  Well, Daniel didn't nap.  He chattered away in his crib for nearly 3 hours.  And, I managed to assemble the bottom part of the kitchen unassisted.  I rescued Daniel from his crib and asked that he not walk off with hardware and tools while I built the top of the kitchen.  Luckily, Jarl arrived shortly after that to maintain a Daniel-free perimeter.

Daniel spent the evening turning the "burners" on and off ("Grocery store!" because the burners look like glowing, red Target logos), filling/emptying/removing the sink, throwing felt "food", and piling toys in the cabinets and microwave ("Microphone!" starts the same).  The kitchen withstood the test beautifully.  I am well pleased!

In other news, I realized I forgot to mention one of Daniel's word games.  He's playing around with possessives and it goes something like:
     D: Mommy's fries!
     Me: Right! Your fries are on your plate.
     D: Daddy's fries!
     Me: <wait for it>
     D: Daniel's fries!

This game works with lots of things: books, pens, water, beds, cups...