I love to cook.
I’m not a talented chef who knows how to pare different flavors or anything like that. I simply enjoy the act of cooking. Of course, I have a toddler running around so setting aside time to cook – I mean, really cook – is rare. Cooking actually takes away from mommy time with Charlotte.
(Lots of household activities encroach on time with Charli, but I use it to my advantage in most cases!)
Instead of completely giving up on one of my few hobbies, I’ve started engaging Charlotte in the cooking process. I ask her to choose between two different recipes or two vegetables or two fruits. I realize that her choices are probably based on what is most visually appealing at this age, but I’m hoping that this practice encourages her to make decisions for herself. Being an extremely indecisive person, I really want to teach her to importance of making decisions!
In addition to making choices for mealtime, I’m starting to include her in the cooking. She will drag a chair across the kitchen and slap the seat yelling “UH! UH!” (translation: UP! UP!) until I pick her up and place her on the seat. I scoot the chair up to the counter so she can watch as I measure and mix. I talk to her the whole time, explaining what I’m doing and what I’m making.
Yesterday, she helped me make turkey chili. She poured the different ingredients into the crockpot for me. After watching me stir for a few seconds, Charli decided it was the coolest thing ever! She stirred and stirred, and was not happy when I told her it was time to cook the chili.
Charlotte won’t remember this experience with me because she is too young. She won’t remember what it was like to have me leaning over her, wrapping my hand around her hand as I taught her how to stir the ingredients. She won’t remember the pure, innocent joy in that moment.
And she won’t remember that she refused to eat even one bite of the chili when it was done.
But I will remember. At least I hope I will.
It was one of the most bittersweet moments I’ve had in a while. It was such an awesome, happy experience, and it made me long for my mom so very much.
So it seems I have a new cooking buddy, my little sous-chef. I won’t have to give up my hobby, and I won’t have to miss out on time with my daughter. It’s a win-win… If only she would eat what she cooks!
This Side of the Rainbow 
I can’t believe she is standing there cooking! How long has it been since we have seen her? Allan said you were planning a Skype this week–yes! we need to see this little girl in action!
Enjoy this while you can–who knows how long it will last. I always wanted Hanna to cook with me, and after she was old enough to make up her own mind, she never did want to help, even with fun stuff like making Christmas cookies. Bummer! I was that way, too, I guess, because I didn’t know how to cook anything when I first got married. And that was “back in the day” when you couldn’t call mom to ask–long distance was too expensive. So I just learned by trial and error. Lots of error! Thankfully Len came from a big family and if they were hungry, they had to eat fast and eat anything, so he wasn’t picky.
It’s fun to see Charli growing up and learning so much. We loved the bath video–I’ve heard Allan listen to it several times. We’ll be ready for that Skype call!