Felix is starting to be somewhat functionally literate! He knows a few sight words, and he sometimes uses letter cues to do real-world things (like figure out which bathroom is for boys). He's very nonchalant about it, but we know he must be very pleased with himself. We sure are!

Also, in the last month or two Felix has become afflicted by modesty. He no longer wants other kids to see him naked. It happened pretty suddenly and seemed prompted by nothing in particular. It's a little sad, but part of growing up we guess. Milo the naked boy has no such qualms yet.

Milo's growing in all sorts of ways, fast. He's shot up what seems like a few inches in a few weeks. His face is longer, his eyes are older and more knowledgeable. He's uses long, complicated sentences. He's making puns (like he saw a bad guy fall from a bridge into a crocodile pit and said, "He came to a DEAD END. Ha!"). Also, he wants to marry Lucie. Felix had the same marital aspirations at this age.

Dean's changing, too: he left Widgetbox last week! He's taking a little while off before jumping into the next thing. A few hours after his last day of work he hopped on a plane to visit Harriet in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur where she was for a conference. Here's pictures of Dean's trip.

So on this third week of summer vacation the kids weren't in summer camp yet and Dean was out of town. To preserve her sanity and get a little work done, Lucie sent the kids to spend the day at friends: Alexander's, Kahlil's, Ezekiel's, Keenan's, and Sofia's. There's also been playdates with Torin, Shiven, Connor, Owen, Phoebe, plus a couple of birthday parties.

We've run out of friends to offload the kids to. Fortunately, summer camp is starting next week. Perfect timing!