Our house in Chicago closed this afternoon. Having spent only a year in the house, we were not deeply attached to it but it was sad to sell it to people in such a painful manner - people who want to take apart the beautiful kitchen and replace the well thought out cabinetry, people who insisted over and over and over that we prove that the roof DOESN'T leak (think about that, it is akin to proving that the sky isn't a deep shade of green). The roof never leaked while we were there and the house is perfect (PREFECT, DO YOU HEAR ME BUYERS? P E R F E C T!!!) but there is a part of us that hopes an unnaturally egregious infestation takes place starting tomorrow. Of course we also still fear we will be sued for problems we know nothing about. Next time we sell a house (hopefully a very long time from now) we may first ask the occupation of the buyers. Real estate attorneys need not apply.

In other cheerful news, on the third night of being re-Ferberized (last night), Simon woke up twice but went back to sleep on his own. The first time he only moaned a bit and the second time he cried for 20 minutes. We created a sleep chart for him this morning with stickers which he seemed to understand and enjoy. After four more nights of not needing parental intervention to get him through the night, he gets an ice cream sundae. Five nights after that he gets another ice cream sundae. After sleeping through the night for ten nights, the chart will, instead, become an incentive to use the toilet. When he is toilet trained we'll celebrate by taking him on a Disney Cruise (of course, we'll take him anyway).

Other cute Simon bites from this morning:

Matthew made Simon toast for breakfast and let him eat away from the table. Each time Simon was done with a slice he found Matthew, said "hold this" and handed him the crust.

Simon went into our bathroom to defecate this morning (in his diaper). He spent an unnaturally long time in the bathroom so Matthew checked on his several times. Each time Simon told him to "go away" before he shut the door in Matthew's face.