I know plenty of people raise kids just fine without a dog or two in the house, but I can’t imagine how they manage. My life would be a lot harder and my house would be a lot messier if I didn’t have Asbjørn here to help me with Tage’s spills. Even Tage knows that it’s Asbjørn’s job as “canine vac,” as my mom says, to clean up after him — whenever he spills or drops food on the floor he calls out, “Aaa!” and Asbjørn comes running. I had three dogs when Lydia was a baby, and when she sat eating in her highchair, all three of them would be gathered around her, lying in a semi-circle at the feet of her chair. It made for an efficient system.

As long as we’re talking about dogs, I’ve finally gotten a few nibbles from people who may be interested in Mette! After two weeks of advertising on vovve.net, I’ve gotten only one response. Today I decided to put an ad on Blocket, and already we’ve gotten two calls from people who seem interested. One is a guy in Trelleborg (way at the other end of the country, but he seems willing to drive up and get her), and the other is a guy in Umeå, which would work out better all the way around, I think. I’d like her to stay up in Norrland because she really is a snow dog and loves to pull the sparks (kick-sleds) in the winter. Of course, the most important thing is to find a good home for her, but it would be nice if she had some of the comforts of home, so to speak. In any case, both of them are supposed to call back later this evening after thinking about it and talking it over with their wives.

In other exciting news, Lydia’s school had a little contest today based on the tv-show Småstjärnorna which involves little kids lip-synching to pop music. Not exactly my cup of tea, but Lydia eats up that kind of stuff, so she’s been pretty keyed up about it lately. When she came home from school this afternoon, she ran up the stairs, burst in the door, and announced, “Here you have a winner!” She and her partner, Ingrid, beat out the other first-grade contestants and will get to perform onstage at one or another spring get-together for the school (I’m a bit fuzzy on the details as yet). She’s already planning her next conquest — Lilla Melodifestivalen, the junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest. Wish me strength.