Little Baker...Toddler Apple Pie

My grandmother played a very large part in my young life and she always had soo much patience, more than I ever have had.  When I was young she always made it a point to be sure that I was included in kitchen time, if she was baking, I was baking with her, if she was making breakfast I was right beside.  I remember her often letting me make my own "pies" out of crust scraps which we sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on.  In addition my grandmother ran a pre-school and every fall she baked mini pumpkin pies with each and every child who was in her pre-school, if I remember correctly that was like 100 mini pies...can you imagine?  I remember attending preschool whenever I would visit grandma.  I was probably the only child who was able to attend preschool for 3 or 4 years straight!  I got to go into the preschool in the summer time and play with all of the toys (like a kids playground!)  There was a special rocking boat, trays of puzzles, a cabinet where the "choo-choo" train was kept and a cabinet in the back room where the snacks were.  There was a play kitchen area and an upstairs "library" room.  The play kitchen area was by far my favorite.  When the time came that grandma closed the doors to the preschool she kept many of the items from the preschool and shared them with her daughters.  I was the first grandchild to have children of my own so I have been able to let my children play with the same play kitchen that I had as a child.  

This set bring so many memories back and today my 2 year old decided he was going to make an apple pie.  First he took my saucepot and put 3 whole apples in it to cook on top of his "stove."  After a little while he decided to put a pie pan in the oven (with the whole apples in it) to bake a pie.  The funny thing is that at this exact time I was in the kitchen baking a real apple pie for dinner.  I love that he is learning like this.  It may not be pumpkin pie but it sure does bring back good memories!