Chef in the making

That is cornstarch on his face, and his mouth, and on the oven door, and the floor behind him, and his shoes, and ...

This week, Kaleb has decided he wants to help mommy cook. I didn't even think about offering him the opportunity, but he found a way to become involved, wanting to dump things in, stir, etc. So, Monday, he "helped" me make muffins. Putting baking cups in and out of the pan, flinging flour across the floor, etc. Being as how this is the first time he's done stuff like this, I still find it very cute and amusing. Then, last night, he helped me make Shepard's pie. He would get upset if I did something myself, as he wanted to dump and stir. He wanted to add his dump truck to the mix, he wanted baking utensils at his level, and he moved his play area right in front of the oven, so he could help, and be involved. I found it so cute, though it took twice as long to get the stuff made, and I had to do some extra cleaning. I was surprised when I caught Kaleb sucking the tablespoon with cornstarch, as he didn't act like it was gross, which you would imagine. He would take things and put them in the trash for me, and is trying to be such a big boy, it's amazing!

He's growing up so fast, it's unbelievable. Not that long ago, he wasn't able to do a whole lot. now, he's walking, some degree of talking, drinking from a cup, cooking, washing hands, helping out in the dressing process... sometimes (when not throwing tantrums). He seems to understand most things too, which is surprising. My little baby is no longer a baby... and very happy to be growing up. :)

Sweet Sweet Moments

I wish I had a picture and/or video to show what I'm going to write about. I should have written this sooner, but here it is, days after, and I still think how sweet this was, so figure I may as well share it. :)

Kaleb and I develop various games/activities to occupy him so that I can change his diaper. Sun night, he came up with a new game. Typically I tickle and kiss his little toes, so he decided that he would "steal" his toes from me, and put them in his own mouth! I would grab his toes out of his mouth, trying to "eat" them myself, and he would giggle and giggle and giggle. It was the sweetest sound! Pure joy and laughter, and he came up with the game himself. Anyway, it was a very cute, sweet happy time, and he did lots of giggling.

Well, Monday afternoon, I went to lunch with Andrea and 2 of her kids. (Side note, I'm discovering that it is hard to eat out w/ Kaleb at this age, too many reasons to go into in a side note parentheses :) ) At one point, I wanted to eat a little of my salad, so I put Kaleb down on the floor. I looked down, and he was sucking on his shoe. He had taken his foot, shoe on, and started sucking on his shoe to try and get attention from me! it was so adorable! Well, in a parent kind of way. Sucking on his shoe which had been on a floor of a fast food joint is quite disgusting if you think about it, but the fact that he was trying to do something silly to get my pure attention was what was so adorable. :P It makes me smile remembering it. :)