Several months ago I wrote about how David likes to cook. He's less interested in pretend cooking with the play kitchen and more interested in being in the kitchen with me now. At first I thought it might be that we block off the kitchen and he likes being in there to see, up close, what goes on in there. That may still be, but few things seem to hold his interest as much as cooking.

Often, we would come to the baby gate stand hopefully and say " Hi mamma" to which I would reply, " Hi babe." One day he realized that he could shake the gate in a certain way and dislodge it. So now he comes to the gate, shakes it off the doorway and places it to the side, walks in the kitchen and says " Hi Babe... " to me. Then he gets the little wooden stepper and puts it close to wherever I am to see what I'm doing. Most often I am cooking, so he likes to talk about the fire and how you "don't touch, mm-mm, burn fingers, ouchie" Sometimes he likes to play with the various large utensils like the spatula, whisks, and spoons and pretend he's stirring.

Lately, every morning he's wanted to eat Malto-meal for breakfast. I think it's just because he wants to cook!