Jeffrey's Stew

I was making a vegetable barley stew, and it takes quite a while to put together, so I let Jeffrey make his own stew to occupy him.

He added some barley,

water,

salt,

and stirred it all up!

He got really into it and insisted on making his pot "hot" as well.

After the stews were done cooking, he wanted to eat out of his own pot. When Jeffrey wasn't looking, I dumped out the contents of his stew pot (which was mostly salt scattered with a few uncooked vegetables), and filled it with my stew.

He ate the whole thing and even kept his hand under his chin to keep tidy!

Ever since this time, Jeffrey has wanted to "cook" every time I do. I let him do it because it occupies him, and I feel like it encourages creativity. I let him mix up some rice and wheat and have his own salt shaker, and the idea is for him to use these same ingredients over and over, but I must admit I've lost a couple of bottles of spices to his culinary endeavors and I've had to clean up a lot of messes!