There are a variety of ways that I help my mom when she is doing things in the kitchen. In previous posts, Buffy shared several of the ways she used to help. And I do many of those same things.

But my mom recently taught me a new task that is my own! She didn’t teach Buffy how to do this task. She isn’t sure why. Since now she realizes how much it helps! My guess is that Buffy wouldn’t enjoy this job as much as I do!

My mom’s wheelchair is pretty cool. But it has limitations. For example, it can’t sidestep like a person can. Or turn around in a tight spot.

This means my mom has to have plenty of room to maneuver her chair. And sometimes has to do lots of moving about just to get where she needs to be.

For example, if she is prepping food at the counter, and needs a knife out of the drawer, she would back her chair up, reposition close to the drawer, and pull it open. So to make it easier for my mom, I just tug open the drawer so she doesn’t have to move at all.

This kind of help, along with the time and energy it saves my mom, can be invaluable. So she started thinking about other ways I could help her. Ways that might save her some extra time and maneuvering. 

And she came up with an idea! Do you know what it is? That’s right. I could throw away the trash for her!

Throwing away some tin foil for my mom!

If my mom has something to throw away she needs to leave the counter area and maneuver over to the trash can. And then back to the counter. All that extra work is time-consuming, just like when she needs something out of a drawer.

So I get to throw away the trash for her! Which has become super helpful to my mom. And very fun for me! 

Our trash can in the kitchen has a lid that needs to be pushed open before dropping the trash inside. I had to learn to push and hold the lid while dropping the item.

Sometimes things get stuck on my tongue,. Especially paper towels! So holding the lid open until I drop the trash has helped with making sure it goes all the way in.

First, my mom taught me to push and hold the lid open!

I love to help my mom. And learn new things. So this was an exciting opportunity to do both. It took me a little while, but I’m very good at it now!

Sometimes my mom needs something thrown away when she is in the bedroom. If so, she just hands it to me and tells me “trash.” I can either go to the kitchen trash can or the bathroom waste paper basket.

The one in the bathroom is easy because it doesn’t have a lid. I just have to drop the trash in. But the kitchen one is more fun because I get to push the lid. So I usually choose that one!

Since it is a job I love doing, I even try to throw away some things that I should be giving to my mom. So once in a while, I need reminding if she wants me to give her the item. Or if it needs to be thrown away. Do you sometimes need reminders?

Every morning, when my dad brings in the mail, he says “mail dog!” which means my sister, Roo, and I get to bring the mail to our mom. My dad hands us each a piece and we deliver it to our mom.

Roo and I gave this “mail dog” pin to our dad for Christmas!

But recently, I thought it might be fun to have an extra opportunity to throw away some trash. So I tried to put my piece of mail in the trash. I thought this was a great idea. But my mom didn’t agree! 

Buffy used to share with you some videos of her doing tasks to help our mom. I asked my mom if we could do one of me throwing away some trash. I thought you might enjoy seeing me in a video!

You can even see how persistent I am when something gets stuck in my mouth. The third item I throw away gets stuck and I have to hold open the lid until I get it to drop inside.

What are some of your favorite ways to help out in the kitchen? I like tugging open and closing the cupboards and drawers. And helping my mom with the refrigerator is fun. But my very favorite is throwing away the trash!