Unconventional Uses of Herbs and Spices: Toddler Playtime

I had planned to do a lot of writing this morning, but my daughter called and asked if I could watch Benjamin for a couple of hours.  Of course, I said yes, knowing full well that the hours I would be babysitting were nap hours for him.  Simple.  Give him a little snack.  Put him in his little portacrib for a nap.  Continue my morning as planned.

Well, not so simple.  Benjamin had no use for any snack that I offered.  He didn't want Cheerios, a banana, or even his favorite, vanilla yogurt.  He refused a homemade chocolate chip cookie and a sippy cup of cold milk.  I even resorted to putting the milk in a bottle (please don't tell my daughter this), hoping for some luck.  No luck.

Then I thought, "Well, maybe he's just tired," and sang a little song to him as I did the preliminary steps to putting him down for a nap.  Remove the telephone from the room.  Open the window for a little breeze.  Spread out his special blanket.  Turn on some Baby Einstein music. No luck with that, either.

So off we went back to the kitchen, and as I was closing my laptop for the duration of the visit, Benjamin spotted one of my cabinets slightly ajar.  He made a beeline for it, and found what I guess he thought was gold.  There were my three lazy-susans, waiting to be twirled.  He began twirling them.  Then a couple of spices flew off.  This delighted him.  Soon, he was removing each herb and spice from the cabinet in a meticulous fashion  (I will tell you here that all of my herbs and spices are in plastic containers, and I quickly tightened the lids on each one).  

I watched as Benjamin placed them on the floor.  He began to stack them.  He swatted them down.  He lined them up.  He put some back.  He twirled the lazy-susans again.  He took them out again.  Laughing and laughing. I dared to lift the cover of my laptop.  I quietly sat on a counter stool.  And I wrote for exactly one hour while Benjamin played with (I counted them) 36 plastic containers of everything from basil to parsley, and cinnamon to saffron.

When my daughter returned, she took one look at the organized chaos in my kitchen and said, "You know he is going to expect this every time he comes here." I know he will.  But that's what grandmas are for.  I found out today that boys are all about sugar and spice and everything nice, too.  Well, maybe herbs and spice.