Moments.

Raising little people is one of the most difficult jobs out there.  I read endless mommy blogs about mothers struggling to handle it, and cheering each other on in the struggle.  And I am glad that there is this community that shows the sides of motherhood that most people hide.  But some days no matter what you read no other person can make you feel like it is all worth it more than that one chubby toddler covered in snot.  Little chef has been growing leaps and bounds lately and with all of the fun milestones he hits, he also finds new ways to get in to trouble and grate my nerves.  Today he walked up to me with his big boy cup and help it out to me and pointed at my cup.  I though “Oh so cute!” so I poured some of my juice in his cup.  He quickly drank it, gave me a heart melting smile and held his cup up again.  So I dutifully filled it again for him expecting the same result.  Instead of being adorable again, he took the juice cup, looked in it and chucked it across the kitchen floor as hard as he could and then ran over giggling to start smearing the juice around and ended up slipping on the juice and going ass over tea-kettle. Of course his silly acting out turned in to wailing and needing mommy kisses.   Seriously.  Kids.

But then there are moments that make it all worth it.  And so many of those moments for little chef and I are when we are cooking.  I find it really special that we already share a love for cooking, that is one of the things I fell in love with my husband over.  After a very wild day of working from home and keeping little chef from burning the house down I realized it was 5:30 and I had no plans for supper.  I looked over at little chef and said “Well buddy what should we make for supper?” and he grins and does his little butt wiggle happy dance and runs to the fridge and starts pointing and jabbering away.  It is truly the cutest thing in the world.  We were both hungry and needed something quick so we decided to make taco salad.  Simple, but delicious.  I had some corn tortillas in the fridge that I chopped up and baked to make chips.

He loved it and ate it all like a champ even the lettuce {because let’s be real even my kid who eats everything is not a fan of lettuce usually.}

I know I keep saying it, but I love how excited he is about food and the entire social element surrounding it.  We made lasagne with my mom the other day and little chef toddled around asking to taste what she was working on, then coming over to me with his little spoon and tasting the sauce I was making and then doing adorable smacking noises after each taste.  He already gets that cooking means special family time together.  And that makes me so damn happy.

-Stephanie