The Kitchen

Grandma Kathy and I have been contemplating, planning, and researching getting this gender neutral pretend play kitchen for months and months. In our previous homes we didn’t ever have room for a play kitchen, which was fine. But I’ve always wanted for my kids to have a wooden kitchen to play with. I’ve held off for a long time because I kept thinking that it would be one of those things that would be great at first, but the excitement of the toy would fade, and we’d be left with a large useless lump of toy. But the truth of the matter is, my kids really, really love to pretend to cook. After five years of playing restaurant, it is STILL one of Sarah’s favorite activities. The Banana can’t say a word, but she makes imaginary things for me to eat all the time.

Grandma Kathy and I carefully chose to order the kitchen in February because February can be a difficult month. February is the dead of winter. The snow has been around for weeks and although it’s still wonderful, it has lost some of its luster. The weather always seems to be punctuated by nasty cold snaps during the month of February. Everyone is cooped up inside, and the prospect of spring is still so far, far away.

And today the wonderful kitchen arrived via a huffing, puffing UPS delivery guy. The kids were so surprised, and tickled, and EXCITED. After a quick trip to the children’s museum with Dr. Peds, while I taught three piano lessons in the afternoon, the troops came barging in. I conjured up some supper while Dr. Peds got out an assortment of tools and hardware and began to try to decipher the directions for assembly.

The directions were bad. Really bad. Thank goodness for the distraction of the weekly Sesame Street Podcast, which we hadn’t watched yet. The word for the week was “expert.” Mr. Sneaky Pants decided his father was “an expert at putting kitchens together.” I’d have to agree. I was so happy not to be putting it together.

After some time the sink and stove was finished, and we let Sarah and Mr. Sneaky Pants stay up late to play with it while Dr. Peds finished putting the refrigerator. They were so excited, wild and crazy they could hardly contain themselves. Oh the fun! It was a frenzy of flying food. They can’t wait to wake up to play with it again tomorrow.

After Dr. Peds had the finishing touches on the refrigerator, Sarah came bounding into the room with a piece of paper folded in half and sealed with about 37 staples. Dr. Peds opened it carefully (a feat that was rather time consuming . . . maybe she thought it would buy her some more playtime before bed?). Inside was a picture of a school bus stop, the words “thank you” and the treasure of a penny for all of his assembling services.