The play kitchen went into storage when we moved from Harrisburg to Lancaster. After Ari managing to live without it for four months, we instructed the movers to put it in the basement once it was unloaded from the moving truck.
Ari has watched one too many episodes of “Kids Baking Championship” since he turned one of our cabinets into a blast chiller yesterday afternoon.
“Don’t put that in there!” I called from the couch.
Did he listen?
Do you remember how old he is? (Three and a half.)
So, now you know the answer.
Ari put several items in the blast chiller (my baking cabinet) yesterday. Isabelle must’ve been able to tell I was getting annoyed since she suggested, “We need to bring up the play kitchen from the basement.”
Marc and I texted back-and-forth a couple of times. We determined the kitchen could come upstairs and go into the kids’ play room.
“Why can’t it go into the kitchen on this wall where it was in the old house?”
My dear husband told the kids he didn’t want it scratching the wall. I was brutally honest, “Because I don’t want it there.” (Listen, I had a play kitchen in our former house for over six years. I adored having it there, but once we moved I decided I didn’t want a kitchen within my kitchen taking up space.)
A few hours later, Marc and my dad moved the play kitchen upstairs. My father anchored it to the play room wall — despite Isabelle and Ari chomping at the bit to play with it again — in an effort to keep them safe.
Once the kitchen was ready to go, some arguments broke out between who was allowed to open which pretend door. I have no idea who was right or wrong in the arguments. What I do know is that my baking cabinet is no longer serving as Ari’s blast chiller.
Raising Literate Humans 
Mine want whatever the other has… all the time- doesn’t matter the age or the object. I’m glad you were able to reclaim your space!
I love this. Ari and one of my grandsons are so similar. Hearing about his escapades brings me joy. Thank you for this slice today.
I cannot get enough of Ari stories. He is something! A great solution – just love the idea of the kids having a play kitchen. The dialogue and the thoughtshots make this piece come to life for me. Loved your closing thoughts in the caption below the picture.
Play kitchen is so much fun! I think a lot of us are “playing” much more in our own kitchens lately. Sourdough, anyone? 🙂
My kids are the same way! They haven’t played with something in months and then they get interested again. I love this story. Ari is so clever in his imagination. I can see why you wouldn’t want the play kitchen in the real kitchen though. I’m sure he’ll have plenty of fun pretend baking in the play room and real baking in the kitchen. I wonder if people really do have blast chillers in their houses!
This was very entertaining and brought me back to earlier time. With five kids ten years apart in the house, I remember how everyone seemed to want to play when I resurrected an old toy.
There’s something really appealing about a toy we haven’t seen in a while. We moved back into our house just before the pandemic started & I’ve enjoyed the time I have unpacking things I hadn’t seen in 9 months. Some of them are, surely, things I can get rid of, but others are finding new spots in our home. I’m with Ari & Isabelle: time to play with old toys.
I bought a play kitchen for my grand babies a few years ago. It’s one of their favorite things to play with when they visit. They so love cooking and creating for us adults! I hope they – your children and mine – keep the passion for cooking alive so they can one day actually cook for us all