Keeping My Kitchen Helper Occupied

Now that baby M is pulling herself up onto anything and everything I have to make sure she is very close by when I work in the kitchen. The easist way is to involve her in playing with something that is not a regular toy, such as these bowls. It works for me! Yesterday she crawled all the way into a cupboard where we keep all the small appliances. I wish I had taken a picture of her--sitting in the cupboard, all pleased with herself;)




I have also learned to utilize the good ole pack n' play. I so want to be a whole-hearted attachment-parenting type mama (wearing my baby around all day etc) but it just hasn't worked for this kiddo! She craves independence (should I be worried?;) but I have found that the pack n' play solves this dilemma. It will give her enough of a boundary while allowing her plenty of fun things to do that she will be content for 20-30 minutes at a stretch sometimes! If she has the full run of the downstairs all the time I think she gets overwhelmed with what to do. Or worse she will get into things she is not allowed to.