At the Market

We stopped in at Trader Joe's this morning. I was getting the "Wow, how do you get him to eat that," looks of admiration from all the other parents as we cruised through the aisles with Will announcing (not in his inside voice, I might add), "Broccoli, Mama - we need to find the broccoli!" I, of course, beamed and took all the credit for being an A+ parent whose kid eats every vegetable imaginable.

Later, when we were checking out, Will helpfully handed items from the cart to the checkout lady. When he got to the asparagus he said, "That's asparagus. I am not a fan."

Postscript: Video - I Am Not a Fan (of Asparagus)

Let's Get Cooking!

We recently retired Will's high chair to his friend Baby Carly, leaving us with newfound space in our kitchen that we forgot we even had. Never one to let a spare inch go unutilized, Mom quickly filled it in with a Learning Tower. While this piece of todder equipment is unimaginably, yes, even bigger than the high chair, the utility factor makes up for it. Most exciting is that Will can now cook with us!

We started healthy, with a Lentil Soup.


















We had some delicious ingredients assembled, including baby carrots, red onion, ham hock (from the Castro Farmers' Market), cauliflower, celery, bay leaves and chicken stock. Will had fun "dumptrucking" them all in the pot. He also had his milk cup handy, the toddler equivalent of enjoying a nice glass of red wine while cooking.


















Mama was going to help him pour in the stock, but as most almost-2 1/2-year-olds are inclined to say, Will wanted to "do it myself." So, he did!


















Any chef worth his salt has to sample along the way.












Now that's some delicious soup!













For his foray into desserts, Will hit the jackpot when Mom received some Sprinkles cupcake mix as a gift - his first homemade cupcakes wouldn't just be any cupcakes, but Sprinkles lemon cupcakes and red velvet cupcakes! (Note to fellow parents: when baking cupcakes with toddlers, stick with white, lemon or yellow. Not red velvet. Save those for yourself!)


















There was no way that Will wasn't going to try at least a little icing!


















After tasting the icing, Will took frosting very seriously.












Time for sprinkles!
























Our happy baker!

It's the Pop Goes the Weasel Song!

Will likes to get his morning started with a pop!

Shirtless

This is how I found Will this morning when he woke up. The jig is up - he can in fact take off his own shirt!

He decided that he'd show me how he knows how to put a shirt on, too. Well, onto Kitty, that is.

















Nice duds, Kitty!

An Impromptu Walk on the Beach

We enjoyed an impromptu walk on the beach this evening after the YMCA. Will was insistent on going, and who could say no on a day like today?

We "searched for sticks to toss" into the waves and had fun looking at our long shadows.