Mommy! I Cookin'!

Anyone who knows my daughter knows that she is absolutely, 100%, completely obsessed with food. For example, the fake french fries she got in her food set from Great-grandma Knight that she still carries around and fake-eats all the time. So we decided this little girl would probably get a big kick out of a kitchen to put all her food in and then she could just fake-cook and fake-eat all day long (are we giving into her obsession? Is this healthy?). Since we were going to Utah for Christmas, we weren't overly concerned with getting it beforehand because we knew we couldn't take it with us and we figured we'd find better deals after Christmas was over. So this week we finally found one we liked on Craigslist. It's a really nice size with lots of doors and buttons and noises. Mike had brought it back from orchestra rehersal late Monday night when Amy was still in bed, so we set up all her food in it. The next morning she came into my room (ridiculously early in the morning, like normal) and I asked her where her kitchen was. She started looking around the room and I took her out to the front room. I have to admit, it was better than Christmas morning! She jumped up and skipped around singing "My Kitchen! My Kitchen! It's my kitchen!" She ran over and started opening things and moving things around. It was adorable. I should have woken up Mike so he could have seen her.

The one thing we didn't have for the kitchen were pots and pans and cooking utensils. So Mike, being the good daddy that he is, came back from his doctor's appointment today, having stopped by Toys-R-Us, and surprised us with the cutest little set of pots and pans and more fake food. It was Christmas all over again. She immediately said "open it daddy!" and as he took things out one by one, she put them in her food basket, hauled it to her room, and has been in there ever since. He also got her a little phone (that was the one thing missing from her kitchen) and she randomly picks it up, opens it up, and says "Hello Grandma."

One other cute Amy story I want to share (am I sounding too vain yet?) happened last week. I woke up after Amy (as usual) and she had pulled out of her room 3 plates, 3 utensils (1 knife, 1 spoon, and 1 fork), and 3 cups, along with a pepper shaker and a couple pieces of food. She was sitting in her chair, and when she saw me, this is how our conversation went:

A (pointing to the Sleeping Beauty plate): It's Amy's plate.

M: Yes, that's Amy's plate.

A (pointing at the Cinderella plate): It's Keaton's plate.

(meaning Keaton Becker - who, remember, is not here)

M: Oh, it's Keaton's plate.

A (pointing to the Snow White plate): It's Lillee's plate.

(meaning Lillee Becker, who is also not here)

M: Oh, it's Lillee's plate.

A: Oh! Where's the chairs?

Amy then proceeds to run to her room and get a chair for Keaton and Lillee. Then she walks around the table, shaking "pepper" onto each of their plates. To this day, if you hold up the Cinderella plate and ask her whose it is, she will tell you that it is Keaton's plate. In the same sense, the knife is always Keaton's, the fork is always Amy's, and the spoon is always Lillee's. She spends a lot of her time setting up little parties like this. In fact, she found the fourth plate (the Belle plate) and I asked her whose it was. My daughter, who has been OBSESSED with watching Peter Pan ever since she got it for Christmas, cries out "It's Peter Pan's plate!"

So Amy and Keaton and Lillee and Peter Pan have tea parties every day. I love having a little girl!