The Autonomous Child

So I'm a big fan of letting Baz call his shots. I try to respect his opinions and desires as much I do my husbands, and as much as I expect them to respect mine. I also feel that if I go with his flow most of the time, then when I need him to go with mine, he'll be more willing. It's along the lines of the "fix game." (which totally works, by the way. Especially when you follow it with "Now sit here and watch an episode of Roary while I vacuum the rest of the house." He's had dedicated mommy time, I get ten minutes of not tripping over him while he tries to help push the vacuum. Win. Win.)

Last weekend (two weekend ago?) a friend of mine suggested giving Baz access to his snacks so that we can move past the "I want it/I hate it" stage. I saw genius in this and immediately knew where to set up his section of the kitchen.

Behold - our stash. The drawer was filled with random junk (you know what I mean) and the rest was haphazard and behind the most irritating kitchen cabinet doors ever.

Seriously - do you see where the magnets are? And the pulls are in the top/center of the door? I didn't take physics, but I know that ANNOYING. So I took them off.

And yes - that's all my coke. Hush.

After!

Everything found new homes with minimal rearranging (cleaning out the junk drawer made a huge difference) and now here is his stash.

Top shelf: glasses, bowls, muffin tin (have you witnessed the genius of muffin tin meals?), two snack options, to-go cups, to-go snack holders.

Bottom shelf: pots and pans, pitcher, spoon, play food, spatulas and spoons. 

Inspired by this post, we set up a water station several months ago. As soon as his glasses were within his reach, he started filling them. 

Happy baby!

He does enjoy having everything where he can reach. He hasn't figured out that he can grab his toys and take them up on the counter with him - while he's in his learning tower - but I think we're close to that. Could be soon. And then - that'll be an interesting day, won't it...?