DeLappenings: The Learning Tower

So about a month ago, as the first few weeks of newborn craziness were passing, and the gazillion degree temperatures of the Texas summer began staring me down, I decided I needed to come up with a plan to keep Chica stimulated in the coming months.

Because a lot can fall by the wayside (um, hello housework, laundry and hair-brushing...remember me???) with the arrival of a second kiddo, but I don't want Chica's development to be one of them.

So...my evil plan: add a couple of designated days to our weekly agenda. Like Cooking Day and Craft Day.

There are gobs and gobs of fun projects out there just waiting for a toddler's attention. But first, I wanted to set up the right environment for those projects.

Enter, The Learning Tower.

I saw something similar online one day and just loved the idea of a protected space that would get Chica to counter height safely (since she's not great with our barstools) but allow for more movement and workspace than a high chair.

And here it is!

(Why, yes. Yes, I did clean off my counters before I took this pic. [If you count piling stuff on the floor out of view as "cleaning." Which I totally do.] But is it so improbable to think my kitchen counters look like this all the time??? Don't answer that.)

As you can see from this wider shot, it fits pretty well right there, if I decide to leave it out all the time. But it also came with nifty, padded base pieces should I decide to scoot it elsewhere.

We gave it a test run with a little fun fingerprinting the other day, and if this smile is any indication, Chica dug it:

Those little notches on the side allow the platform to adjust to various heights, and when we're done using it for this purpose someday, it can be rebuilt as an art easel.

Cool beans, eh?

It comes in a variety of colors, but we decided this natural wood would (wood would, hehe) look best in our casa.

Now fast forward to this morning when I was just too lazy to walk our herd of three down to the pond. I decided to try out a little baking.

My beloved little toddler was being a bit of a terd when I asked her if she wanted to help me (hence the need for a diverting activity), but as soon as I said the word "cookie," she was in.