There are pros and cons to being so neurotic that you make all of your kid’s baby food.

On the plus side, you know exactly what your child is eating at all times. On the negative side, you frequently have nights such as the one I had tonight, toiling over my baby food-cooker for the better part of two hours.

I’m going to Las Vegas to report a guidebook (the 2011 version of this one, to be exact) for the next two days, so I had to cook enough food to refill our stash in the freezer and leave Powergirl with an allotment for L while I’m gone.

On the menu for the evening: pears, carrots and sweet potatoes.

The real challenge was the preparation. Because our food-cooker, the Beaba Babycook, is relatively small, I must dice up fruits and vegetables (and meats, I suppose) before I cook them. Even for someone who is not a perfectionist, this process takes a while. Throw in my aforementioned OCD and I was dicing for the better part of American Idol.

Next came the cooking. The Babycook steamer basket doesn’t hold that much, so I needed to run six separate cycles to get all the food cooked. This actually was relatively easy; I was able to do other stuff while the food cooked.

Finally came the apportionment and freezing process. More than anything, this is monotonous; kind of like pouring cupcake batter into those little paper wrappers over and over again.

Am I complaining? Hell no; I wouldn’t be comfortable any other way with L’s foray into solid foods. That said, though, this extra effort is a lot of work. I now see why so many busy parents just buy stuff from their local grocer.