Dinner Prep Obstacle Course

If any of you have toddlers who can now begin to entertain themselves and you try to cook dinner at home most nights then you will feel my pain on this one.  

The Mr. can cook but he can mainly cook comfort food or short-order cook type stuff, you’ll survive on it but different flavors and a variety of vegetables is not on his radar so the majority of the cooking is my job.  I also prepare the menu and do the grocery shopping which means I am in control of the types of food that come in the house and I’m ok with this responsibility (it also means that the Mr. is responsible for the majority of kitchen cleaning, yay division of labor!) but being the momma means that the Munchkin likes to spend her time with me in the kitchen while I’m cooking.

Here I am minding my own business and in walks (*gasp*) the Munchkin to see what mommy is doing in the kitchen.  Content that she’s in the same room with me she now goes back and forth to her favorite cabinets to pull out various kitchen things (pots, pans, lids, bowls, measuring cups, etc…).  I love her engaging with the pots or the pans and being with me in the kitchen.  I think it’s good for her to play with things, especially playing with things that don’t have buttons or make noises other than what she makes with them because even though I am a “techie” person there is value in the low-tech.  Her new favorite experiment is taking pot lids and throwing them to watch them spin and wobble until they stop and then she throws them again.  I tell ya, this kid is working on understanding physics.

The problem is that these cabinets of hers that she loves are right in front of the sink and the kitchen is not huge and spacious like the ones you see on HGTV, it’s a normal old house kitchen.  I’ve gotten good at being aware of the Munchkin now that she’s gotten mobile but now I have to worry about all the things she’s leaving all over the floor, needless to say I’m getting more nimble by the day!  It’s a lot harder when I’m also trying to manage a hot stove at the same time.  Luckily she’s not too interested in what’s going on with the stove just yet because she just wants to make noise with her kitchen instruments or an obstacle course for mommy.  
There is no big message or revelation about life with this post it’s just an observation about how I now have to add constantly watching for trip hazards to my daily life, add one more mess to the messy life of a working mom!