In the Kitchen with Ellie

For Christmas, Ellie got a new play kitchen. It's a "play and grow" kitchen that can change shape and actually get taller as she grows. It's a 50 piece set with grill, stove, oven, microwave, dinnerware, and food. Nanna and G-Diddy bought this gem for her and along with her Christmas stocking gifts from them was a Krispy Kreme paper hat. This hat has become a staple for her kitchen play. In fact, I've had to make a few trips to Krispy Kreme to get replacement and backup hats because they are just that important! This kitchen has provided hours of enjoyment for the whole family, not just Ellie! One of her most favorite games is to knock everything off the sink/stove, or drop cupcakes through the window (as if she's a short order cook) and then squish those adorable cheeks together and say "OH NOOO!"

 Ellie loves to serve her cupcakes. On her own, she has decided that mommy always gets the pink cupcakes and daddy always gets the blue ones. Not sure how she knew or decided about the blue for boys and pink for girls, but its pretty cute, and very consistent. She loves to offer coffee to anyone who visits and is also perfecting her pretend eating with an irresistibly cute "nom nom nom" noise she makes. The kitchen play has helped reinforce and continue to teach manners like please, thank you, more please, no thank you, all done, and cleaning up after herself (ok, so we still have A LOT of work to do with cleaning up).

As a side note, One area that Ellie is really good at cleaning is her hands. When she's eating in her high chair, or anywhere, she does NOT like for anything to be stuck to her hands. She won't eat another bite until her hand has been wiped clean, even if she's just going to get it messy again with the very next bite. Her eating will stop, she will hold her little hand out and patiently wait for you to come to her rescue with a wipe. If you don't notice she will prompt you by saying "uh oh" and if you still don't notice she gives up and uses her hair as a napkin. Yes, I said her hair. Talk about going from one extreme to the next!

Anyway, back to her kitchen, she loves to serve people. When my mom and dad were babysitting one day my dad dropped a few hints that he loves hot dogs, soon enough Ellie had found her hot dog and the bun and presented it to Grampy with pride. The set came with two pizzas, each with four slices. She enjoys using her pizza cutter to slice and serve each piece. She also likes to feed her stuffed animals, baby dolls, and Minnie Mouse. She can be very nurturing. It's a joy to watch her decide who is going to eat what, and if she thinks it's funny she isn't shy about bringing it to our attention! We love that she likes to share her silly thoughts and playtime with us. Even at this young age I swear she is a wonderful communicator, especially to her mommy and daddy. I pray that this open and natural communication continues to grow and strengthen as she grows.