Portable Lunch

I realize I never mentioned here that daycare is going swimmingly for Lara the Penguin. We are really thrilled - she doesn't cry at all at drop-off, instead saying "Bye-bye, Mommy!" and running off to play with "Miss Eya!" (Miss Ella, her teacher). She's really grown tremendously in the last three weeks, also - it's just incredible, but apparently it really is true that there is a huge skill and ability leap in little kids just from the experience of being around other kids. This might go double in Lara's case, since she is one of the youngest in the Penguin room (which has kids from 18-36 months, for a Montessori-inspired approach). I know now the trend is for parents to hold their children back so that they are the oldest in their class at school, but I'm of the old school that being younger is better. It just seems better to be the aspirer than the aspiree, I think.

In any case, three times a week I pack Lara some kind of finger-foodable lunch, which has so far tended to be pasta with cheese, or eggs, or some bean/chicken/cheese pieces. But it occurred to me today that she loves - LOVES - the sweet potato fries they have at Marathon Grill, which is basically the only restaurant we can go to any more with her general misbehavioriness. So I whipped up my own batch, probably way healthier than the deep-fried ones they serve. Mine are just coated with olive oil and a little salt and baked at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes (it's an inexact science, just keep looking at them and poking them with a stick). She couldn't shove them in her mouth fast enough. I guess we have a winner!

Oh, and, how about those awesome gourds? Lara calls them "punkin gahds." They are so seasonally festive... I wish I had some better place to display them than her high chair!