dillo makes me read books

[flea]

Dillo is doing well - such a settled, good baby. It is easier the second time. I'm almost, um, bored. His "routine" (two days is a routine, right?) is to sleep lots in the afternoon and early evening, just waking up every 2-3 hours to nurse. This allows me to nap in the early afternoon and play with Casper when she gets home from school. He's rather awake for a while at bedtime (9pm; mr. flea sits holding him while I read to Casper) and then again for a couple of hours in the deeps of the night (yesterday, 12-2 am), and then again in the mornings.

He's starting to peel (this is normal), mostly on the hands and feet and armpits. I cut his nails again today.

mr. flea gets pooped or peed on almost every time he changes a diaper. I have yet to be hit.

Casper had a hard day yesterday - didn't want to go to school ("can I go to work with Mommy? Please please please?"), had terrible trouble getting along with mr. flea at bedtime. (Weaning didn't stop her from being Mama's girl, and apparently neither will big sisterhood). Today a good morning, though - I just sat and nursed Dillo while she read him a book, and then got into her normal morning routine with mr. flea.

Books read:
Mary Balogh, The Ideal Wife (1991?). I had to struggle to finish, as I didn't like wither mani character much. He's practically perfect and entirely lacking in personality; she's a wet noodle and also a fool. They get married.

Julia Quinn, It's In His Kiss (2006). The one about Hyacinth. As with most Quinn, I read with enjoyment up until the point where they had sex, then skimmed the rest of the book. Somehow she always loses me there.

Comments

[susanw.livejournal.com]

Mary Balogh, The Ideal Wife (1991?). I had to struggle to finish, as I didn't like wither mani character much. He's practically perfect and entirely lacking in personality; she's a wet noodle and also a fool. They get married.

One thing I find both a plus and a minus in Balogh is that most of her characters, especially in her earlier books, are of their times in that they're duty-bound and the women tend to be conventionally feminine rather than the spunky tomboyish proto-feminists so common to the genre. It's a strength because I like the realism of it, but every once in awhile I think it gets away from her a bit and she creates characters that strike me as a bit too passive and buffeted by circumstances rather than acting to improve their lives. IIRC, The Ideal Wife struck me that way, though I still basically enjoyed the story.