A Budding Chef

Whisking salad dressing.

Excited to help!

Little hands

I'm sure you're not surprised that Ava has taken an interest in cooking with me in the kitchen. Since she was about 18-months old, she has been standing on the step-stool helping with stirring, measuring, and learning cooking basics. Last night, Ava and I went to our garden to get fresh parsley for my tomato and cucumber salad. For salad dressing, I gave her a mixing bowl and a kid-sized whisk and she whisked like a pro! She asked to smell the vinegar and olive oil. I could tell she really liked the nutty smell of the olive oil.

I cook and bake with Ava as my sous chef. She really likes to whisk eggs too. She knows to put in salt and pepper in the eggs. It's really fun to have her in the kitchen.

I got her some kid-sized kitchen equipment and the set included an apron. She loves to put it on when she's on the stool. Ava really likes making Mommy and Daddy's salads. She likes to tear the lettuce and place the ingredients carefully on the salad like shredded carrots, cheese, and small spoonfuls of pumpkin seeds.

Play kitchen

Ava's grandparents got her a play kitchen for her 2nd birthday and she really loves it! We keep it in the basement and since then we also got her a Melissa and Doug wooden pizza set. Since we made pizza nights our Friday night family tradition, Ava loves to make pizza in her own kitchen. She puts a slice covered in toppings in a bowl and tell us that it's hot and advises us to let it cool off. Then we pretend to eat it. It's really fun!

I'm so excited that Ava is learning to enjoy cooking so much. She feels empowered helping me in the kitchen and I'm amazed by how much I get done with her participating. At meals, she'll proudly say "I made that, Daddy," which really warms my heart!