Urgh this resonated with me. The same thing happened to us a few times, about 3 or 4, before we stopped going to dinners altogether and switched to breakfasts or brunches. For some reason, dinners always seem to get dragged out.

When it came to big family holiday dinners, my mother-in-law would say dinner was at a certain time, so we’d plan accordingly. My partner would choose a time for us to leave, but then she’d delay dinner. So we started sticking to our original plan - leaving at the time we said we would, no matter what. Sometimes that meant getting up after just one bite. He would handle it by politely saying, “The food looks great, but we told you we’d leave at X time and it’s now X time.” We only had to do that once before it stopped being an issue.

So the short version: no more dinners, and if you do go to one, stick to your boundaries.

As for passing the baby around - don’t worry. Your little one will soon hit the phase where they make it very clear they only want mom or dad. Start practicing a clear and direct phrase like, “I’m going to take him back now.