smiles

I forgot to say, Dillo smiles now! It is so much nicer once they smile. Even if he sometimes appears to be very very happy at the ceiling.

He can also track stuff with his eyes some. Still a bit cross-eyed, though.

icky things I did not realize...

Having the Dillo has added $55 a month to my health insurance premiums. Interestingly, if I had a 3rd kid, the premium would stay the same. Also, of course Casper's day care is going up next month (an extra $37 per paycheck, because our subsidy rate has changed.) Just when we're looking at a huge new child care bill starting up!

Book:
Naomi Novik, Black Powder War. The 3rd of the Temeraire trilogy, and no, I haven't read the first two, but ran across this in the library. I almost never read fantasy, but this isn't really fantasy to me - it's historical fiction, just with dragons. Not that I read historical fiction either. This was a slow read, but pleasant; well-written and I like the voice. Suffered a bit both from stepping in in the middle of the story - I felt I never really got to know Laurence - and from there being no real narrative arc. (Perhaps why I like mysteries and romance - you know the story is going somewhere concrete.) Also, more action than people, especially when you consider the length! There were only about 6 characters whose names I can remember, having finished it, and two of them are dragons. I've got the second one out of the library now and I think I may save it for the bus, whose pace suits the book's.

bookkeeping

Harvest:
10 carrots
2 pole beans
5 pink girl tomatoes
2 German Johnson tomatoes (plant now has the wilts)
late-planted marigolds have started to bloom

Book:
I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith.
Managed to be both very charming and also make me feel like a crotchety old woman by the end. Also, if Simon is pushing 30, shouldn't he try to be a little more careful about this spontaneous proposing?

Baby Name:
Born to Ruthie and Joel, a daughter, Rivkah Mary. Brother is Keziah and sisters are Tirzah and Tahlia.