1. After Julia passed gas at the dinner table tonight, which elicited some poorly hidden laughter from Shannon, which elicited some poorly hidden laughter from me, Vivi looked around the table and then, with a baby's power of perfectly uncomprehending imitation, leaned to one side in her high chair, lifted one cheek, and grunted. More laughter all around. My wife! Laughing at farts! Truly, the world is a different place.
2. After getting a total of nine different responses to our Craigslist ad for our dining set, we sold it today to one of my coworkers. She picked it up as we ate dinner, so, mid-meal, we swapped our regular chairs for folding chairs from the closet and Shannon wound up sitting in the living room with her plate.
3. I spent the evening assembling the new dining set - a table and six chairs. It looks grown up, like something in an older neighbor's house. Best part: Julia helped by assembling little stacks of fasteners: "flat washer, lock washer, bolt." She loved it and really did a great job. Weirdest part: Next to one of the dozen of so "Made in Vietnam/Hecho en Vietnam" stickers was a piece of masking tape on which was written a Vietnamese name.
4. Though I didn't get to ski tonight, I did register yesterday for the City of Lakes Loppet, a 35km freestyle race on February 3 in Minneapolis. I am very, very excited about both about being able to race and about being able to train for it. Only 53 days away!