Fruity red wines

It's getting cooler out and, alas, my favorite white wines no longer seem appropriate for the season. My sadness diminishes, though, as I pop open a bottle of fruit-filled red wine and get warm from the inside out.

When I call these wines "fruity," I mean it in the sense of bold, (wo)manly fruit flavor. These are all perfectly drinkable on their own for warming yourself up, but they pair great with filling meals like chili, lasagna, steak and mushrooms.

These are all fairly recent discoveries of mine, so I'm eager to hear what you think. I'm listing them in order of character, lightest to most full-bodied.

Baron Philippe de Rothschild Pinot Noir -- I don't love French pinots as a general rule, but this one has much more fruit than your typical earthy French pinot. And pretty much anything with the Rothschild name is worth trying once. About $10/bottle

Juan Gil Monastrell -- The monastrell wines from Spain, as L can attest, are my new obsession. There is a younger generation of winemakers in Spain just beginning to distribute product worldwide, and this (as most Spanish wines are) is a fantastic value. Lovely berry fruit with a smooth finish. $7-10/bottle That's not a typo! What a deal.

Layer Cake Shiraz -- We have had a bottle of this in the house every week for the past couple months. L is fixated on this one, and rightfully so. It is smooth and creamy, with fruity pepper and almost smoky flavors. You will just want it to sit in your mouth, it's so good. About $10-12/bottle

Trapiche Malbec -- Argentinians know something about macho red wines. Malbecs are fairly new on the scene in the U.S. in the past five to seven years. They are so well-rounded, you can pick out almost any flavor in a good malbec. This is my go-to malbec, great with a meaty dinner -- or better yet, South American cuisine. About $10-12/bottle

Maipe Malbec -- I just had this last week for the first time, and I was about knocked over by the fruity nose and the jammy flavor. Even for a malbec, it was so multidimensional. It would be great with dinner, but I liked it after dinner to absorb all the fruity flavor on its own. And it's darn near a steal. About $8-10/bottle

Sell out with me, oh yeah

I made it almost 4 1/2 years without succumbing. My resolve has been strong since I was pregnant with Jellybean, not knowing if she would be a boy or girl. I knew if I had a girl, I would have to face this at some point. And now, the battle is over, and there is a clear victor.

The Disney princesses have won over my 4-year-old. I tried so hard to prevent them from entering my house. Indeed, the only vestiges of them are in the form of greeting cards that others have sent. We don't have any actual toys that resemble any of the princesses. (There is a smidgen of satisfaction that I haven't directly submitted any money to the evil mouse corporation)

I pride myself on being open-minded on child-rearing topics, and sometimes it can be a strain for me to remain so. Disney and princesses are two areas that have been an ongoing struggle for me. Coming into October this year, I knew what I was up against for Halloween.

Being a marketing person, getting conquered by a marketing machine like Disney is an extra dagger in the heart. I know how insidious those campaigns are -- more like brainwashing than advertising. So, when I tell you that Jellybean will be Cinderella for Halloween, I take comfort that neither she nor I has reached the "brainwash" phase. We still haven't given a dime to Disney, even with the costume. We got it secondhand. Take that, evil mouse!

The eye of the beholder

I have always loved hearing people's stories about the hilarious/clever/embarrassing things their kids have said. After you read this, I hope you'll share your stories, either about your kids or about yourself as a kid.

Peanut is just approaching the age and stage that she says funny things on purpose, and yet doesn't quite understand social convention enough to know that some observations are best kept to herself.

A while back, all four of us were out to eat at a restaurant with my mother-in-law and brother-in-law. An older couple was seated at the table next to us. I didn't pay them much attention, because I was too busy making sure salsa, chips and quesadillas didn't get flung across the restaurant or eaten off the floor.

We were about halfway through lunch when Peanut piped up triumphantly, "Her hair is purple!" Of course, in typical 2-year-old fashion, she said it while pointing boldly in the direction of the older couple. We redirected her with quiet murmurs like, "Yes, sweetie, would you like another chip?"

No dice. Peanut wanted us all to share in her discovery. "Her hair is purple! That lady has purple hair!" Louder and with more oomph to her pointing. My MIL and BIL were snorting into their napkins with laughter. L kept Jellybean in check with a stern glance that he somehow managed to conjure.

Amazingly, I kept my composure long enough to lean in, look her in the eye and say something in my end-of-discussion tone like, "Her hair isn't purple, it's red, and we're all done talking about it."

Then, I snuck one last glance at the lady's hair, leaned down to the ground as if picking something up off the floor and had my own guffaw.

Her hair really was purple.

Little girls, little girls

This morning, I went in to Peanut's room to get her up. She was sleepy-talking in her bed, and when I picked up her warm, jammied little body out of her crib, she just folded into me, wrapped her arms around me gently and rested her head on my shoulder. Oh, it was so sweet and such a cozy start to the day. I thought to myself, "This is why I'm glad I have girls."

The song "Little Girls" runs an almost constant loop in my head these days. I'm sure that has nothing to do with the fact that the girls ask me EVERY DAY if they can listen to the Annie soundtrack. I do let them some days, and other days, oh darn, I just can't find that CD anywhere. Don't know where it could have gone...

My subconscious also summons the song regularly, though, as I find myself surrounded by everything little girl-related there could be. Including two actual specimens. And I couldn't be happier about it.

I didn't know I wanted to have daughters. I always assumed I would have boys -- I'm kind of a tomboy, and I've been surrounded by boys all my life, in my family and my neighborhood. I didn't think I could handle dresses and frills and princesses (okay, I still don't accommodate princesses very well). But all the cuddling and affection are way more than I knew could happen with such little people. It turns out that girls are exactly what I needed.

Even though they are little, they really are girls now. I don't mean they weren't before, it's just that now they can express their girlieness. (check out the accessorizing they did to their outfits in these pictures, and you'll see what I mean)

"Little shoes, little socks, and each little bloomer..." The little girl stuff is great. I'll hold onto it as long as I can, because somehow I have a feeling the bigger girl stuff ain't gonna be near as rosy.