bringing the toddlers on board..

All of us who have little ones know that it is really hard to get dinner on the table at a decent hour with whiny little ones under your feet.  While I have no hope to offer when you are toting a baby or a 1, I can tell you that if you space your children well that you can hand the baby over to you eldest and bring the whining toddler to a happy squeal of joy.  Just bring the toddler on board. 

I learned this lesson by watching my mother relate to my first child.  It took a little retraining of the brain, but somewhere in the third year of her life I got on board with bringing her to the counter with me.  It takes a lot less time to have them help you with your chores than to fuss with the whining and the tantrums.  While this works for everything from laundry (they love to help sort when they are just 2 and they love to put  the clothes in the machines when they are just 1) to dusting (a 3 can clean the baseboards quite well while a 1 or 2 loves to scrub the coffee table even if you have to go behind them afterwards) and of course, a 3 is an amazing helper in the kitchen but a 2 can help quite well also. 

My boy Moses is now 3 and a quarter and he always wants to make everything in the kitchen with me.  At first, when he was a mid-1 I would just give him pots, pans, some empty jars of spices, and a whisk, a spoon and a spatula.  That kept him happy for a little while but by mid-2 he was ready for the stool (OK, we don't really have a stool so he uses a chair ; ).  Sometimes I get the camera out to document what he has done.  Our most recent endeavor with pics was a favorite dish around here.  Rice and beans with sausage and on the side, tostones.  He put everything in the pot and while the tostones are way to hot for him to handle, he handed me every single one of those platanos on the way to the pan.

the rice and beans

the tostones and sausage

the happy boy!