Cooking Dinner

Etta LOVES to help me cook dinner in the evenings. She loves to come around the corner into the kitchen and find her stepstool all set up for her. She starts squealing and flapping her arms with excitement before climbing up the two steps.

(rinsing the asparagus and then placing them on the paper towel on the counter to the right)

She doesn't get to help every night because I can't always find something safe for her to help me do, but she likes to help me pour and stir and rinse when she can. When I'm cooking and she's not "helping", she gets upset and goes over to where we store the stepstool and she fusses and pulls on it.  So, today I bought her some dry pinto beans and I set her up at the counter with a few bowls and some measuring cups and spoons and she went to town stirring and pouring while I was cooking dinner.  There were beans all over the floor, and I loved it!