"Ty do it" is the phrase of this phase! Whether it's handing me the dirty clothes to put in the washing machine, putting the wet clothes into the dryer, feeding the dog, feeding the baby, sweeping with the broom, pushing the vaccuum, cooking dinner, Tyler is doing it. Call me a pushover but I'm letting him do whatever he wants to, primarily to avoid a tantrum because I can sense how passionate he is about "doing it." So, I'm getting creative about what we eat for dinner so that we're making things Tyler can do. Like clockwork, when I announce it's time to cook dinner, he goes and gets a chair to stand on, pushing it up to the counter.

Trying to come up with food he can safely help me prepare is not all that creative since cooking with Tyler can't exactly be done over the stove or with sharp knives. So, Tyler gets to put the chicken nuggets or fish sticks on the baking sheet. He's learning to pour ingredients out of a can. He's getting really good at putting the vegetables, 1 at a time, into the steamer (this buys me a lot of his time if we're having peas). He is learning never to touch knives. He calls raw chicken gross. He declares "Ding Dong" when the microwave beeps to tell us it's done cooking. I have found a new joy in cooking, and it's cooking with Tyler!