Pancakes.

I have been very brave this morning; I allowed Rye to cook his own pancakes.  First time I've allowed him near the hob.  Mainly because its one of the old style hot plate type hobs; and so visually impossible to tell whether a ring is on or not; and I just have visions of Rye putting his hand on one of the rings while on.

Rye asked for pancakes for breakfast, quickly followed by a request to help.  So he made the pancakes, nearly splattered egg all over the kitchen with his enthusiasm to break it open, and then stirred it really well with the whisk.  It is wonderful to see how is manipulation of kitchen implements is becoming more skillful.

I may have been a tad too serious in trying to convey to Rye that he must, must not touch the white of the hob, the rings or the frying pan because it would get very hot and would hurt a lot if he touched it.   He thought the seriousness was me telling him off, so I cheeried him up a bit and we began cooking;

He did rather well flipping the pancakes too, with help, however it was during the flipping we had the incident. 

As you see in the top photo I had the handled turned away; I think this was a mistake, because while Rye was trying to flip the pancakes he grabbed the side of the frying pan.  I grabbed his hand, not quite shouting, "No, don't touch that."  he stumbled off the step he was standing on and ran into the lounge crying.  He wouldnt let me see his hand, so I asked if it hurt and he said yes.  So I took him into the kitchen and turned on the cold tap. 
Thankfully he hadn't burnt himself, there's no mark at all - and it was the first batch, so I guess the sides of the pan hadn't yet got very hot.  Rye was very upset though, so I explained my reaction was because I was scared not angry with him; we had cuddles, and I swallowed my fear, and we had another go with making pancakes, this time showing him how he can hold onto the handle but NOT the pan.

This cooking business with a newly four year old is hair raising business.  I shall continue though, afterall how is he to learn otherwise?

And here are some photos Rye took last night - he is fascinated with the camera and I often turn it on to find he's been snapping away :-)

I obviously took this one; Rye playing with pine cones and making a forest

I'm encouraging him to hold the camera properly so he doesn't have his fingers over the lense or the flash