Hellobee Boards

We got Jax a learning tower. He actually does "help" me prepare things. He will dump food into bowls, if I measure things out first. He of course eats a ton of veggies as I'm cutting them up to cook them, but I've realized that him eating raw veggies before dinner, is just as good as him eating them during dinner.

If I don't let him participate he will whine and cry and push my legs in most cases.

Also, I'm sure people will think I'm nuts, but I have let both boys near the stove. They stir things that are cooking. I know that others would find this risky, but both of them have never been burned and respect and understand that the stove and the things on it are hot.

DD is 16 months and is in the phase of wanting "Up" whenever I'm doing something other than playing with her or literally climbing onto my feet when I'm trying to cook. I try to prep everything during her nap (chop veggies, marinate meat, even put a pot of water on to boil at dinner time) so that my steps in the kitchen are minimal in the evening. We do have a TV in the next room, so I try to time it that we watch a little bit of sesame street together and then she watches the last segment of it (usually Elmo related) on her own while I do the last few things in the kitchen. It is tough though!

We have an area penned off for them to play in (they're 15 months). If they whine in there, then they whine. Mama (or Dada, usually) has to cook! We've been letting them in the kitchen and while it's difficult to work around them on the floor (they don't walk yet), we've seen improvement in their behavior.

She likes to help in the kitchen but I can't have her by the oven. Our kitchen is super tiny so there's no space for a learning tower--we just use a small side table and she steps up there. I usually give her some kind of activity to do so that she feels like she's helping. Lately she is into our magnetic poetry and Scrabble letters on the fridge so she points out letters to me. I also have her play kitchen right outside of our kitchen.

One of those methods usually works and when all else fails, DH is in charge!

We prep dinner the night before after she's gone to bed, so the actual work left on the day of is minimal. It not be ideal, but it works well for us, and we have been able to significantly cut down on ordering take out too. There's no way I could prep and cook every night with LO at my feet (she's too young for a learning tower)!

Snacks. She is only 13 months so a bit young to help. I give her some raisins and she's content for almost 30 minutes. My 3 year old is happy to play while I cook. I also only cook very basic things when the kids are awake. I save anything with a lot of chopping time or time spent at the stove for when they are in bed. Or the weekend when DH can watch them. During the week, I do a lot of roasted veggies in the oven and throwing things in the crock pot.

when I can spare a few minutes during naptime (I usually work then) I fit in some prep. I try to make easier recipes for sure and use the slow cooker where I can prep early morning or the night before. and using a stepstool has really helped us. we didn't have room for a learning tower but had a large/tall 3-step stepstool. when I push it up to the counter I feel like it would be pretty hard for her to fall off. sometimes I will do things that I know will involve clean-up, like letting her pour water between different cups/bowls, because it holds her attention a long time.

worst case scenario is the tv - you can't see our tv from the kitchen so it's really PBS app on the phone (in guided access mode).

Learning tower.

Saved our life!