Mama's Kitchen Helper

A little over a year ago, I did a similar post about how Grant loves to be in the kitchen with me. Only now, he really is my little kitchen helper. This past Christmas my sister and I recruited his help in making our Christmas Eve meal and Grant has just been increasingly more curious about what goes on in the kitchen. 

Lately if he hears my stand mixer going then he comes running to see what's in there. 

Last week when I was making dinner, he saw me grating cheese and told me "I need some of that". So he got a little bit and then wanted to know what was going on on the stove - where I was making the macaroni & cheese that I was grating the cheese for. So I pulled a chair over and Grant proceeded to help me stir the pasta, add the salt, and then mix in the cheese (while sneaking more cheese to snack on). 

He was so excited to help. And got a little mad at me when I added a little more salt, telling me "Hey! That's my job!"

I love this one because he looks like he got
caught taste testing!

One night this past week while prepping some potatoes for the next night's dinner, Grant saw me slicing and wanted to know what was going on. So we pulled the chair over - and strapped on a tiny apron - and he helped again. After I sliced the potatoes and dried them, Grant added them to bowl for me, put in the pepper & parmesan cheese, and then helped me mix them up before we put them in the pan. When Husband walked through the kitchen, Grant told him "We making matatoes, Daddy!"

And so I now I have a real little helper and I love it. My mom never had a problem with us being in the kitchen while she was cooking and I've always hoped that I'd be able to teach my own kids at least a little something about being in the kitchen. I'm so glad Grant's curious about it and that I'm able to find things for him to do that help him learn some and make him feel helpful too. When we're done I tell him thank you for being such a good helper and he tells me "You welcome, Mama!"