The next Iron Chef

M was starting to show interest in "cooking" and everything that has to do with the kitchen a few months ago and I've been dying to get her a kitchen set. I was going to wait until Christmas to get her one, but with her interest and a casual visit to a store that had a half dozen Stage 2 kitchen sets on display we both caved.  She was in love with them from the minute she saw them.  When she saw the first kitchen she pointed and said, "Este! este! este!" (This! This! This!) and wriggled out of my arms and ran to it.  (Have I mentioned that M has two speeds?!  Stop- to eat, watch Barney, or sleep only- and run.)  Even without the fake food and pots and pans she was in love, so we picked one out and brought it home. 

That night after she had gone to bed, A.R. spent an hour putting it together and then I put on all the stickers and it sat in our kitchen overnight waiting for her the next morning.  As a side note: A.R. is no longer allowed to sticker kid toys...he messed up putting them on M's Dora ATV and she has since ripped half of the stickers off of it!  Kid does not miss a thing.  The next morning when we brought her downstairs she spotted her new kitchen in an instant and wriggled out of my arms and ran to it with the hugest smile on her face.  It was like a little ray of sunshine was shining down on it from the heavens highlighting it in all it's glory.

M loves it and definitely has some room to grow into it as she can't quite reach the microwave yet and was only just able to reach the cupboards in the last week and only on tippy toes.  M "cooks" for us everyday usually when I'm cooking our dinner and she'll bring you samples to try.  It is so adorable when she walks up stirring an imaginary concoction in her pot and offers you a taste.  The kitchen also came with a play phone and she regularly gets phone calls for us and hands her phone off to us to chat on. :)  I can say that I've found plastic play food upstairs in our bathroom (her kitchen is downstairs in our kitchen), in her diaper bag, in my purse, under the couch, in the dogs' dishes and water bowl, and in her toy box so far.  She takes this cooking thing seriously and really surrounds herself with food. ;)  Watching her play with her kitchen set reminds me of my favorite Strawberry Shortcake kitchen set (that really smelled like strawberries!) from when I was little.  I just hope M is lucky enough to get an Easy Bake Oven which I was never lucky enough to own...