Recovered as we are from our previous condition of having stuff flying out of us, we can consider things a little more back to normal. Jennifer took the longest to recover, and thankfully Tara never had anything. I am starting to be convinced that it was a virus rather than food poisoning, though. Jen thought from the start that this was the case, and I thought it was just wishful thinking, that she was not willing to boycott the local sushi place. We have run in to some other people who have also been sick with something similar, and worse yet, some people we have run into have become sick, so the prevailing evidence is that it was some sort of bug. If you’re reading this from the toilet, um. sorry.

In other news, I have really started to notice a difference with the Strattera. This whole week at work I have absolutely felt like Superman. More exactly said, I have been nearly indistractable, even in the face of the demoralizing uncertainty which poisons our office atmosphere. Even better, my insurance approved coverage of the drug, which runs something like $125/month.

Last night we made another outing to Souplantation at Anna’s request. For my money, this is the best value in going out to dinner. It’s not fancy, but both of the kids behave because we can be eating within 20 minutes of leaving the house, and it costs less than $25 for the three of us to eat, including tip. There is enough variety to satisfy even Anna’s picky palate, and some of the food is even healthful. Yes, I am an old, married, father of two.

I can’t remember if I’ve posted that Tara has sprouted two teeth. They’re really starting to come in now, and she is even starting to use them to bite things now. She stretches her mouth comically wide, like a little jack-o-lantern, and moves her jaw up and down, saying “yaayaayaayaayaa.” She has started doing this when a bottle is stuck in her mouth, which is a habit Jennifer would not like to see catch on. Tara is expanding her solid food repertoire, and lately has 3-4 oz. of food three times a day. What a chow hound.

There is even gadget news, as I have a “new” PDA. It’s a notebook. Yes, it’s true, I’m actually tracking my to-do list on paper. The last reasonable all-around PDA I ever had was a Palm; my cell phone is now a great tool for tracking my schedule and contacts, but my to-do list has always been a problem. No portable method of entry (even a small keyboard) can compare with a pen and paper as far as I’m concerned, and to-do’s seem to be the most demanding PDA items on a speed-of-entry basis. I just bought a 3×5″ spiral-bound pad in a little leatherette case with a pen loop, but I have a Moleskin reporter-style notebook on order; it’s much smaller, yet better ergonomically because of the flip-top binding.