The Iron Chefs

A friend of mine emailed last week saying she'd bought her daughter a new play kitchen and wanted to get rid of her old one. She wondered if Isabella would like it. I don't pass up free things, especially not something as nice as a nearly-new wooden play kitchen, so I said sure. This morning as we came home from the gym, it was standing on our front porch. I laboriously dragged it inside and it instantly became the focus of our entire day. Early on it was used as a standard kitchen - the kids cooked oatmeal, soup, pizza, lasagna, etc. They washed dishes in the dishwasher and set the timer on the microwave, etc. However, after some time it became a jungle gym.


No longer did just the food go in the oven. The challenge became to see into which of the tiny compartments they fit. Benjamin started in the oven. "I'm cookies, mommy! Set the timer and bake me!" Then Bella had to have her turn at being baked (she chose to be broccoli). Then Benjamin discovered that if he takes out the dishwasher rack, he fit quite well in there too, and could even poke his head out of the sink from time to time. So he spent all the rest of our time at home today hiding in there and yelling for me to find him. At what age do kids finally get the whole "hide and seek" thing? At what age do they finally comprehend that if you saw them going into their hiding place or if they tell you where they're going or if they keep hiding in the same place over and over, that you'll know where to find them??? He's a smart kid, but none of these things has sunk in just yet. In any case, the play kitchen is a big hit and I certainly loved seeing my kids so happy. The best part: they were so busy that they forgot to yell poop the whole day. :)