Peter's 1st Cooking Adventure -- Banana Bread!

My 14-month-old son, Peter, has recently learned to climb up on the chair my almost-three-year-old daughter, Charlotte, stands on when she "helps" me cook. He insisted on standing there while I made banana bread this morning using Erin's recipe that she posted ages and ages ago.

The bread is still in the oven, but I'm going to declare this a "success" event because Peter and I had so much fun cooking. No, he didn't really help, and it was kind of awkward because I had to use only the part of the island counter out of the reach of his chubby little arms. He was enthralled by the mixer though, and he looked super cute cuddling the plush dog puppet* (given to his big sister by Joslyne's parents at Halloween in 2009). I'm 99.9% sure Peter will wolf down the banana bread when it comes out of the oven, but his sister, of course, will refuse because she is the pickiest eater alive. Sigh.

Here is Peter inspecting the overripe bananas we used. You get a much better flavor from the bread if you use nasty, stinky bananas -- trust me!




And here is Peter cuddling with the dog puppet. He may not have a permanent security item, pacifier, or thumb to soothe him, but he really likes cuddling with stuffed animals. And he adores baked goods. I have a feeling we will be eating this banana bread while cuddling some stuffed animals together later!




*This dog "barks" when you squeeze down on its mouth. I learned last night NOT to put Peter to sleep in his crib with said barking dog because when he rolls over on top of it in the middle of the night, the resulting "bark" heard over the baby monitor wakes me up out of a sound sleep and kind of freaks me out. Lesson learned.