NEW kitchen!!

No, we are not that lucky. Our kitchen remains the same. But, Emma was lucky enough to receive her birthday present (a mini kitchen) about 1 month late. This is not due to lack of love on her parent's part, but due in part to not being able to find one (Okay, the one I specifically wanted) locally. I found this kitchen everywhere online, but adding 1/2 the cost of the item, in shipping, was not an option, for me. I'm too cheap :) So, I finally found a site with minimal shipping and the rest is history. I think one of her grandmas even bought some plastic food for Emma to play (101 pieces for me to pick-up) with.

The assembly was pretty exciting as we raced against the clock, hoping to finish before Emma's nap was over. We did finish and, in fact, woke Emma up from her nap (going on three hours) because we were so excited for her to see it. As expected, she was terribly excited when she saw it while I, on the other hand, had visions dancing in my mind of her spending countless, uninterrupted, focused hours of kitchen role playing. Then I had a reality check. She mostly loves playing IN THE BOX the kitchen came in and when she IS playing with the kitchen, I hear the command - "MOMMY! Sit here!" which means, sit as close as you can to me so you can see everything that I'm doing and making for you. We are working on the independent play thing...

The luxurious toddler kitchen, assembled and ready to go

Joel guessed it - Emma picked up the phone, first thing.
I suppose the apple doesn't fall far from the tree :)

Joel giving Emma the nickel tour

Joel taste testing

This picture represents about 15 minutes of
mommy-less play time...it's a start!