Got Spaghetti?

My girls are fairly independent all day long. They need me for the occasional snack, diaper change, story, lunch, band-aid, etc. But other than that they like to do their own thing.

EXCEPT, when it's time for me to make dinner.

All of a sudden there's this frenzy of needing mom for this, that, and the other. For Cyrena it's opening something, or fixing her shoes or hat (which is a post in and of itself) and for Natalie she's just plain nosy and wants me to hold her so she can see what is going on in each and every pot and bowl. I know a lot of this happens because it's that time of night and they're hungry for dinner. And they really want to be in the kitchen with me.

Anyone feel my pain?

Well one way to combat this problem is to keep them BUSY so they don't notice the amazing smells coming from my cooking in progress-Haha! So one night, I was making spaghetti (gourmet I tell you!) and I noticed the core of a pear sitting on the counter. I'd been cutting off pieces throughout the day for Natalie. An idea was born.


I stuck 2 pieces of raw spaghetti into the pear--you could use a bit of play-doh if a pear is not readily available :)--gave Cyrena a bowl of Cheerios and let her have at it. She loves that kind of stuff and it kept her busy until dinner was ready. Great fine motor practice. After she ate her dinner I let her eat the cheerios.


As far as Natalie is concerned, she loves to watch her sister but is also now fascinated by the dishwasher. So sometimes I let her fill up the dishwasher with anything she wants. It definitely keeps her BUSY. I need to take a picture, it's quite funny what she puts in there.