Play Kitchen: Then and Now

     My kids hit the mother lode the other day.  Baby #1's ninong and ninang (godparents) delivered their Christmas present:  a Step 2 Fresh Market Kitchen.  It comes with faux stainless steel refrigerator, stove/oven and microwave plus a copper range hood to boot!  It also has an attached store with a cash register that actually works!  If it came with a dishwasher, I would've been in tears (of jealousy more than joy because there is still a gaping hole next to my sink).  But I digress....  Both babies are so excited!  I can tell because Baby #2 laughs like Sesame Street's Bert (eh eh eh eh eh) every time her waitress/big sister serves her fake food and Baby #1 spends every waking hour (she has pushed back her bedtime) behind the counter.  Even my husband and I love buying produce from the firstborn (oooh, have i got an upcoming post about THAT!).

     I'll show you the mother lode but, first, please indulge me as a reminisce about my own luto-lutoan (play kitchen).

     Yup, it's a clay pot with a clay lid on a clay stove which is really more of a clay fire pit.  By the way, this is a new set courtesy of my parents' visit home last August.  I don't think mine made it past the third grade.  Because it was clay, it chipped and broke.  My tatay's (dad's) handy-dandy epoksi (glue/epoxy) made it all better (oh, we didn't buy a new set).  Ah, the pleasures of growing up in a six-children household and being a kid when my parents were paying for college for all four older siblings at the same time!  Yet, I loved that luto-lutoan and so did my baby sister.

     And so without further ado, here is a pic of the kitchen with my lovely Vanna-esque Baby #1 who's busily adding up momma's total.  I'll be sure to share my own play kitchen with my babies so they can appreciate theirs more.  I know I sure do.