Since Thursday, when the new kitchen set for E arrived at our house, our little boy has been busy putting food in his oven, refrigerator, on his stove, and dumping out and sorting his food and dish bin. It has been amazing watching him immerse himself in his own little mini-kitchen, setting our real dining room table with plates, cups and fake food, offering drink to his stuffed animals, and even bringing us pots and pans with various combinations of food. (Usually eggs and potatoes).
Amazingly, he has taken out no other toys in the last 5 days. Honest to God, not a single one. When we come down stairs for breakfast, he immediately runs over to his kitchen and starts moving stuff around while I get his breakfast ready.
As Amy and I prepare dinner (okay, as Amy prepares dinner) he is off in his own kitchen playing. It has been a relief to get him away from our side and into an activity where he may believe that he actually has a part to play in getting himself fed. Whereas before he just sat there in the kitchen, hungry, clinging to our legs, crying as we tried to whip up some food for him as fast as we could.
Last night his dinner actually got cold before I could pull him away from his plastic food preparation.
He enjoys sorting items out, finding all the eggs and putting them in the carton, placing the milk jugs next to each other in the fridge, placing pots and pans in his dishwasher, and pretending to turn the nobs on the sink and stove.
Organization seems to be his strong suit. Last night I put our alarm clock, which also has a temperature reader on it, in his crib in order to see how cold his room gets before bedtime. No sooner had I left the room when I heard the beeping of the buttons coming from our bedroom. I go into our bedroom to see E on our bed placing the alarm clock back on our headboard. He must have thought I misplaced it in his room and he should put it back where it belonged!
I've written about him placing clothes (sometimes clean ones) in the laundry room, picking up his toys (that is starting to wear off), and being able to recall where he put items days later, but to immediately put the alarm clock back where it should be without missing a beat was hilarious. (Even though it went against my wishes and I never did figure out what the temperature in there was.)