Last night was one of the rare nights where we had dinner leisurely and almost without interuptions from the little boy. The only way we are able to achieve that is to find things to distract him. And the thing that made him so engrossed and left us alone to eat slowly and even have some decent small talk around the table? Cooking!
Or at least he thought he was cooking. We put an empty plate in front of him and gave him 2 spoons. Then we put a little bit of steamed rice on his plate, with the intention of letting him learn to feed himself. But no sooner than 2 minutes of trying to feed himself, he found it a lot more enjoyable to play “masak-masak”!
He was so serious and engrossed in his own world. I broke his “silent spell” when I asked, “Are you cooking?” and he grinned widely. We asked him what he was cooking and he proudly said “Rice”. And he continued the whole time we had dinner, even until we were done and just sitting around. He was so engrossed that he didn’t even tell me that he was peeing (he normally would “announce” if he does his job even though he’s on diapers). I found out because the diaper wasn’t fastened properly and it leaked 
Even at home, he loves to play masak-masak, so I shouldn’t be so surprised that he would be entertained in learning to cook. Yes, I actually bought a set of masak-masak toys for him! And he has been enjoying pretending to cook and feeding us!
Many may ask why on earth I would even consider buying a boy masak-masak set. Who knows, maybe he’s gonna turn out to be a fine chef one day! And being a chef doesn’t mean being any less of a man, right? 
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Nothing wrong with boys playing masak-masak. After all, you will find that many chefs are male!
Adino, I totally agree!