Okay, if you laughed at the title, count yourself amongst our funnier readers :)
This picture is of Benjamin cooking pancakes with Rob. Rob loves to have the boys cook with him and just this week has been introducing Ben to the culinary arts. After this pic was taken, Rob poured another pancake and Ben got into it a little too early. It was rather, umm, interesting and did become Ben's!
Rob is a very good chef and cooked for the family until we moved to Wisconsin. He loves to do it and is very creative. I don't think he's made a bad dish yet. A few needed improvements (like that sausage barbeque pizza or his fried eggplant) but most of his creations have been very successful. He has much less opportunity to practice his skills now, but he still cooks breakfast almost every morning and manages to get in one meal at least on the weekend. (I played Pregnant Princess this weekend and he did all of the cooking...thanks, hon!)
Rob started cooking with Matthew when he was just under a year. He would put Matthew in the high chair and explain what he was doing. He'd let Matthew explore the ingredients to see what they tasted and felt like. When he was a little bigger, Matthew was allowed into the action. We have a very cute video of Matthew making his first pizza at about 20 months old. He did very well up until he had to add the cheese: then it just went into his mouth!
Matthew does very well helping both of us with ingredients and knows what pretty much all of the basics look like. He can even tell the difference in the canned goods that we use frequently. Now, it's Ben's turn to start learning his way around a kitchen. He really enjoys getting up on the step stool and "helping" any way he can. Now, I do hear lots of "No, don't touch that" and "Get down" and the occasional "Honey! Get in here!" It's not all picture perfect.
I'm reflecting on this topic because tonight, the boys made pizza. It was so much fun to listen to them interact. When the pizza was in the oven, all three of them came into the living room. Rob looked at the boys and said, "That was fun! Good job guys." He didn't say it like we usually talk to children who "helped" do something, but rather, he was genuinely pleased with their efforts and you could tell he had a wonderful time with the boys. I am so blessed to have a husband that truly loves spending time with his children above most other pursuits. He just loves those little guys.
Oh, just in case any of our readers are wondering if Rob is turning the boys into pansies, don't fret. Last night they were doing manly things in the woodshop. They get a healthy balance :)
8 comments:
I had someone suggest to me the other day that Sela is old enough now to chop vegetables with a paring knife. WHAT!?!?!? At least we live only 10 minutes from Urgent Care now, instead of 35.
I should add that I do NOT let Sela handle kitchen knives. But she fears nothing and has a high pain tolerance, so I expect that one of these days she's going to have a cooking accident. :P
My boys like to get hold of knives that I forgot to push back farther on the counter. The other day, I walked into the kitchen and Ben had the bread knife, sharp side in! Thankfully, he wasn't harmed.
And what was that person thinking? I wouldn't think that a three-year-old would have enough hand control yet to use a knife. You know, I'm pretty laid back with my kids, but I don't think I could go that far yet...
My child is simply not ready to use a paring knife to cut up carrots! She's practicing using a child's (dull!) butter knife to cut her food at meals, but that's as far as I'll go at this age.
One day I forgot and left the dishwasher door open while I dealt with some sort of "emergency" elsewhere, and Evan got ahold of the paring knife. I found him standing there holding the blade!
We made Aggression Cookies today. I don't do a lot of "non-essential" cooking because of budget constraints, but I knew Sela would enjoy mixing the dough and making balls with her hands, and she did.
Wow - we were only gone a few days and you guys have like ten new posts!!! I can't wait to cook with Eóin - He loves doing whatever I am doing :) Not too sure he'll be cooking with dad unless it's mac 'n' cheese :)
Cute picture!! I let the kids measure things out, but I'm usually in too much of a hurry. I think I need to make more time for cooking so they can enjoy it too! I just hate cleaning up the messes! That's my problem.
I am offended by 2 things on this post:
1) Your insinuation that cooking is somehow "pansy"-ish, and that woodworking is somehow more "manly." What's the big difference? You're working with your hands to create something. One of the somethings you can eat.
2) My wife's insinuation that the only thing I can make is mac 'n' cheese (which is a legitimate meal). I guess I won't be making any more breakfasts for her! :-)
Okay, I don't see it that way, but I know some of the more unenlightened among us still see cooking as a woman's thing. Although, all the great chefs in the world are men.
And I leave your wife up to you...just remember, rule of thumb!
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