This afternoon Bella wanted me to pick her up so she could wash her hands at the kitchen sink. Unfortunately, I’m still not feeling up to picking her up, so I had to refuse. She whined and whined and whined.
I’ve been getting more creative when faced with this sort of impasse, though. I dragged over the stool and had her climb up then I turned on the water so she could wash her hands.
We’ve never done this before. Previously, I’ve just picked her up and the hand washing has therefore been rather utilitarian and perfunctory. Today, since she was perched on the stool, it took on a different quality. She started splashing. I didn’t want to just leave the water running, so I rinsed out a container that was sitting in the sink and handed her a wooden spoon from the drainboard and let her splash away.
Meanwhile, I pulled out the cutting board and started prepping vegetables for dinner while she played in the sink. “I’m cooking, mama,” she announced after a while. “I’m cooking.”
She nibbled on the vegetables as I was chopping, a piece of carrot that for once didn’t get spit out, a bunch of raw mushrooms that she surprisingly liked. She tried celery, onion and green beans with less success. The raw broccoli she ate but wasn’t as thrilled with, she didn’t go back for seconds.
When Dom came home she climbed down and ran to meet him as usual. But then almost immediately went running back, insisting that he follow and watch her cooking.
I really enjoyed having her up at the counter with me and she loved sharing in my work. This could be the beginning of a beautiful… something.
Happy First-Month-Day, Sophia! My babies were both very “lazy”, lol And I distinctly remember how much they both hated “tummy time”! Waiting for you to post the first smile picture, Melanie…
And she is doing quite a bit of smiling as well as focusing on faces and tracking.
I hope to capture one of those elusive smiles soon. The camera’s never around when you need it.