Isaiah has been 'helping' a lot lately when I do the dishes. We have a dishwasher across from our sink, but we don't use it to actually wash the dishes (because it's broken)--we just take advantage of it as a drying rack. Isaiah loves being in the kitchen when I'm cooking or doing dishes, and has his own tupperware drawer, which is now filled with other random items such as his books, blocks, and other toys. When I'm cooking, his main concern is to make sure that every square inch of the kitchen floor is covered with the contents of this drawer. When there is still some floor space visible, he moves to plan B, which is to empty the contents of the other cupboards and drawers. That usually covers it.
The thing that cracks me up is to see other items like my hairbrush (which he loves) and his sandals in the dishwasher rack. He puts them in very matter-of-factly, leaves them there, and in the meantime, takes out several spoons and puts them in, for example, the couch. I find lots of 'treasures' hidden all over the house lately.

He is pretty steady on his feet now, and while he still looks a little drunk and will plop down on his rear every now and then, he can walk for a pretty good length of time unassisted. Which is, by the way, his preferred method of getting around. I am working on getting him to hold my hand when we're walking to the store, but he doesn't like that too much. Especially since I only walk in one direction. That does not allow for maximum distance traveled, and by walking in only one direction, I tend to miss the dandelions and other noteworthy sights along the way. Some days I will patiently wait for him to explore the various things along the way, but when I have a 5 lb bag of carrots and 10 lb bag of potatoes in my arms, my patience doesn't last long.

He is really getting the hang of sign language too--well, communication in general, really. He will execute a perfect "pick me up", 'more", "milk", and when he looks at you with those penetratingly blue eyes, you can't refuse him. It's impossible, and he knows it. Yesterday he surprised us by learning 'shoes' in sign language, and brought me my shoe. I asked him where his shoes were, and he promptly went to his new toy cabinet and grabbed his sandal from the top of the cabinet, brought it back to me and did the sign for 'shoe' again. It's exciting to see that kind of cognitive development, and I can't wait for him to start saying more things.