Mommy's Little Helper and Daddy's Little Sweetie!

Raychel is growing up so fast. She amazes me every day at how much she understands, what she wants to be able to do, and what she actually does! She is saying so many words now and can really communicate just about anything she wants or needs.

She LOVES to help me and spends each weeknight sitting on the kitchen counter helping me make dinner! She holds measuring cups while I fill them with liquid or dry ingredients and only dumps them when I ask her too. She stirs both hot and cold ingredients! (I use a long spoon and she holds the very end on the hot stuff and I hold her above it, so no harm is done!) She taste-tests a little of everything and whole lots of some things...cheese tops the list! She gets upset when her creation goes in the oven and she can't eat it immediately.. She says, "Awww" like she is just devastated that her hard work is disappearing.


I give her towels to clean her table, the floors, walls, or other areas with! She loves scrubbing things. We do dishes together and she puts her feet in the sink and scrapes food from pans that I have already cleaned! She also used the scrubber to clean the walls around my sink! LOL This picture was from winter break. We filled the sink up and let her play in the water. She was taste-testing the water too! We were both wet from head to toe...it was VERY FUN!

She also helps by putting her laundry in the dirty clothes basket, picking up her toys, putting everyone's trash or dirty dishes away, and cleaning up her tub toys! For some reason she thinks that trash (like paper bags or boxes) go in the hallway on the other side of the baby gate. Perhaps that is because the recycling is at the other end of the hallway, she is definitely on the right track with her choices. If the trash is food related, i.e. the wrapper from a burger then it goes in the sink! Wendy's may not keep her employed if she washes the burger wrappers and reuses them! One night Derek and I ate dinner after her and ate in the living room while she watched a show. We were done and she came to get our plates, stacked them, and carried them out to the kitchen and dropped them into the sink! Thank goodness for Corelle, no breaking involved! We find many things in the sink that she thinks need to be cleaned! her pretend dishes, random toys, and wrappers! Oh and she is better about bringing in her things from the car then I am! Yep...when she feels like it, she is quite the little helper! Other times, well....she IS just a kid! =)

It makes it fun to have a little helper around the house, however it is challenging to find what SHE can do at times! Usually she is happy with ANY little tiny thing she can do! She knows that if she wants to help, she has to listen and be good...so it certainly makes for happy and easy-going evenings!
Picture from the first snow storm. Raychel's first thought about the cold and snow was....I'M COLD, this is WEIRD, LET ME GO BACK IN! Now she loves to get her snowboots on and head outside!

She is becoming quite the little Daddy's girl! She asks about him all the time and is TRUELY ecstatic when he is home or comes home. One week I had 3 meetings on 3 different days after school, meaning Daddy picked her up from Daycare. After the first two days I told her that I would be picking her up...she said, "Dad?" and I said, "No, ME!"...she said, "Awww...." I explained that he would be home when we got there and that pleased her enough she responded with an, "Ok!". The next day, when I told her that Daddy was picking her up again...she waved her arms FRANTICALLY while yelling, YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! He is definitely the "preferred" daycare pick-up person! Perhaps that is because Daddy has done MANY fun things with her when he picks her up! Most recently he picked her up and they went sledding in the park. He brought her snow boots and hat and they went down a real hill several times! Our old daycare was closer to the house (about 3 blocks away) and he would walk to get her and pull her back in the wagon, let her drive her Go-Kart back, or just let her run back. HE IS A GREAT DADDY!!!!




Just a picture from the backyard! I wasn't there when they went down the hill! She loves to be pulled around too!