Whenever we drag L with us to wineries around our Sonoma County home, the people behind the tasting room bars inevitably ask us if we’d like to give her a cork to suck on while we sample their wine.

Without exception, we decline.

Tonight, however, in the privacy and safety of our own home, we decided to give the old cork trick a try. Thankfully, it worked like a charm.

Admittedly, just about anything would have been an improvement on the status quo. L usually gets cranky around 7 p.m., which (no matter how hard we try) is usually the time Powergirl and I sit down for dinner. What transpires is something akin to a tag-team wrestling match: I hold the baby for ten minutes while my wife wolfs down her meal, then we slap hands and switch off.

With the cork, little L didn’t make a peep. Not only were Powergirl and I able to eat our meals simultaneously, but we were able to carry on conversation at normal decibels after our meal. For nearly five minutes.

There’s no question L has good taste—as soon as we handed over the cork, she inspected it and went straight for the side with a slick of wine (for your oenophiles, the bottle was a 2007 Pinot Noir from a small Napa winery named Road 31).

It also was obvious from how much she enjoyed it that chomping on that cork made her new teeth and gums feel great.

Based upon tonight’s showing, Powergirl and I have decided we’ll just have to provide our little girl with a new cork every night. Fortunately for us, that means cracking a new bottle with every meal. I think we’ll live.