My Little Helper

John is becoming such a little helper. I'm really trying to encourage his helping me, even though he makes my work slower. One of his new tasks is to help me unload the bottom shelf of the dishwasher. He hands me one plate at a time using both of his hands. It may be slow, but I really appreciate not having to bend over with my belly. John also closes the dishwasher door when we are done.

Here is John playing with my oven mitts. He was so enamoured of wearing them that he didn't want to take them off to eat his snack, so I ended up putting bits of snack in his mouth, like he was a baby bird.
Today I did a lot of baking for a church event on Sunday. I went overboard, just for fun. I baked apple sauce cookies (using my homemade apple sauce), jam bars (using my homemade raspberry-blueberry jam), and whole wheat zucchini bread muffins. If I have time tomorrow, I'm going to try my hand at coconut macaroons. All of these are new recipes for me because I had the bright idea that I wanted to try some new recipes before our neighborhood ladies' group does a big "cookie exchange" at Christmas time. You know, when I'll have a four-week-old baby and so much free time on my hands for baking. (An aside: Those apple sauce cookies may turn out to be fairly expensive because apparently I am incapable of watching Sarah Palin's speech on TV and cooking apple sauce simultaneously without nearly causing a fire and probably ruining our big soup pot.)

As I baked today, I let John pour in pre-measured ingredients and stir (even though his stirring was totally ineffectual):
John got to place the liners in the muffin tins:
Later John was thrilled to eat three zucchini bread muffins, having no idea that he was consuming vegetables and fairly healthy baked goods. He was greatly intrigued by peeling off the paper liners.
Another one of John's new chores is helping me feed the cat. He holds the bowl up high, I fill it, then he places it on the ground--again sparing me from bending over. (And for those folks who told me that I didn't even look pregnant in a recent photo, this video reveals the truth.)

On another subject, the below video documents the kind of fun that can be had with a 42-cent ball (otherwise titled, "Why Expensive Whizbang Toys Bother Me on Principle").

Lastly, Chris and I were so impressed with John's memory a couple of nights ago when we went to a restaurant where we hadn't dined in a few weeks. Last time we visited there, John saw a bicycle parked out back near the bushes. This time as we walked past that same spot, John began signing BICYCLE repeatedly.