The baby is mastering the arts of both eating solid food and blowing raspberries – she likes practice these skills simultaneously. This milestone causes me to pause and reflect on the day we chose the fixtures and furnishings while renovating a few years ago (while pregnant with baby #1). “There’s no reason we shouldn’t choose white shagpile carpet, white chairs and bar stools, and a sleek white-and-chrome dining table with impossible-to-clean-crevices” we mused. “Children don’t NEED to be messy; we’ll just teach ours to be really clean” we smugly reasoned. What a couple of asshats.