Trouble in the kitchen

Maryam got a new kitchen the other day - it's a small basic one that starts out low for toddlers and gets higher for bigger kids. She loves it, so much so that recently she got into the pantry and grabbed a box of croutons to play with in it. I was busy winding up some yarn and it kept her occupied.


She ended up dumping the box in her play kitchen, making a small mess and having quite a time.




I kept the camera handy as she went again to the open pantry.

This time she was exploring garlic. Crinkly, crunchy, smelly, tasty (!) garlic.



She did get one bite in there before she decided that perhaps eating raw garlic wasn't so fun.




Look closely in this picture, and you'll see that not only is Maryam playing in the kitchen, she's browsing mommy's cook books. This was not a staged picture!

Grocery Shopping

As noted earlier, I'm all about teaching my daughter the ways of life -- cleaning, cooking, and now grocery shopping.

Maryam likes to push her cart around and put things like Hot Wheels, blocks, and shoes in it. In fact, the other day I couldn't find one of her shoes. I showed her the shoe, and asked where the other one was. She led me to the grocery cart, and sure enough it was there, hidden among the toys. Such a bright little bugger.

One cool baby!

It may be winter, but some little girl doesn't seem to care.

Ribbons

Before Christmas, Maryam went shopping with me and Jim for supplies to sew a new Advent calendar. I was looking at some velvety green ribbon, and Maryam grabbed hold. She would not let go! I decided I didn't need it, but Maryam had other ideas. She had already chewed on the ribbon so much that it just made sense to buy it (if only to keep her from screaming). She even cried when the cashier took it from her to scan.

Now Maryam carries the ribbon around with her. She loves to put it around her neck -- actually, she loves to put EVERYTHING around her neck. It's as close to a blankie as she's ever gotten, but she doesn't sleep with it. She just drags it around until she forget about it. But once she has the ribbon, she doesn't let go, until she forgets again.

Eating apples

Maryam is obsessed with eating apples. She doesn't want them cut up, she wants to eat it whole.This started when we were eating lunch at Panera, and she saw me eating my apple. I gave it to her, and it kept her busy for a good 30 minutes. And it kept her happy! Today she kept running to the fridge and whining. I opened it up and said "what do you want?" She pointed to the apples in the crisper. She ended up carrying it around the house for a long time, eating quite a bit of it.

Hot Wheels

Thanks to her brother Wayne, Maryam has discovered a love of Hot Wheels. She's always liked watching her brother play with them, and she's finally old enough where I'm comfortable with her playing with them herself.

She also makes car noises, now, copying her brother (and her dad). How cute is that?

Child Slavery

Forced sweeping




and mopping



with only one sock on, the poor girl!

Maryam loves to do whatever mommy is doing, and today it happened to be cleaning the kitchen floor. I need to be on the lookout for child-sized brooms and mops, although my guess is that she'll only be happy with mine.