Look at all this gorgeousness!

My CSA box this week was particularly spectacular. Check it out! Tomatoes, basil, mint, squash, onions, broccoli… It’s like a candy store for vegetables. It’s one of those weeks when I love everything in the box and don’t want a single thing to go to waste. Add to this that my husband is going fishing tomorrow so we will probably have several pounds of trout and redfish to cook up. I know, life is hard.

But you know what is hard? Cooking all this stuff with a toddler in the mix. I used to be able to put my daughter in the living room and watch her over the counter as I cooked. No longer. She wants to be right up in the action. In my hot kitchen with stuff frying on the stove and a hot oven and knives on the counters. Awesome.

So I got her this adorable little play kitchen to keep her busy while Mama cooks.

Note its pristine condition.

Yeah, not so much. Instead she pulls things out of  cabinets, displaces all the water in the dogs’ bowl, hides in the pantry, and generally wreaks havoc.

How can one tiny toddler cause this much chaos?

Her other habit is to sneak up behind me when I’m cooking, all quiet like a mouse, so when I turn around to walk to the refrigerator I knock her on her butt. Much screaming ensues. But you know what helps with that?

Squeaker shoes!

That’s right, shoes with squeakers in them. Why on earth would you want your toddler to be able to make more noise, you ask? They’re like a tracking device. I can tell what room she’s in and if she’s sidled up close to me. So worth it.

So she may be spurning the fancy play kitchen, but at least she is occupied while I figure out what to do with all that good food.