A Bullet-Point Post

• Pureed carrots are messy. They are particularly messy when your baby doesn't want to eat them and instead opens his mouth and lets the contents spill out, then grabs at the saliva-soaked mess as it drips down his chin and into the gap between his neck and his bib.
• For Milo's first Halloween, I had a plan to dress him up as an '80s aerobics instructor. It might have been sort of awesome, but it wasn't cuddly or adorable. I was feeling guilty about not having a proper, cute Halloween costume for him, so last night we went to a used kids' stuff store and bought the classic baby's-first-Halloween costume: a jack-o-lantern. I feel much better. He will be super adorable in this thing.
• Lately Milo has been sort of clingy. He likes to be held and fusses when you set him down or begin strapping him into his car seat. In a way, this is charming. I like that he wants me. But it's also quite frustrating. Getting dinner fixed, drying my hair, brushing my teeth, feeding the cats: everything is more difficult/impossible to do with a baby on your hip.
• Today is Andrew's birthday. I'm taking him out Saturday night for a big celebration, but for dinner tonight he requested portobello burgers. I thought, no way can I pull that off. I'd need to go to the store, Andrew would have to pick Milo up from daycare, and I'm not sure I'd have time to prepare a big meal. So I checked out menus online and tried to find a place that had portobello burgers that I could pick up on my way home. No luck. So I thought, maybe I can pull this off. I called Andrew and asked him to pick up Milo, then I snuck out of work 15 minutes early. I stopped at the grocery store and grabbed the things I needed. And in about 20 minutes, I made spinach and goat cheese-stuffed portobello burgers on toasted buns with a side of roasted sweet potato fries and a goat cheese-dried cranberry-pecan-spinach salad. (We really like goat cheese.) It was all quite good, if I do say so myself. (And even with all that meal preparation going on, Milo still got his carrots and got to bed on time. Success!)
• Milo might be starting to learn to fall asleep on his own at daycare. For the last two or three days, he has fallen asleep by himself for every nap, though he hasn't always stayed asleep for very long. Oh well, he's got to start somewhere, right?