Shannon and the girls got home tonight from tae kwon do around 6:15. Within a few minutes, we were sitting down to dinner – an hour or an hour and a half after our usual (ridiculously early) dinnertime.
The meal was scarfed, the desserts were wolfed, and then Vivi got a bad attack of heartburn from something in the entree – probably the tomato sauce. She cried for ten minutes, and being Vivi, was angry as hell about it – screaming at us all. By time she was feeling better enough to take some Tums, I had heartburn too – which actually made Vivi feel better about her own case.
Meanwhile, Julia began wondering why people have heart attacks, and whether she’d ever have a heart attack, and how much it would hurt, and what she would do if she “died all alone.” I tried to explain that eating right and getting exercise would probably prevent a heart attack, but there was only so much I could say. She just had to cry it out, finally vowing as much to herself as to me that she would always get enough exercise.
Calmer now, we headed upstairs so the girls could take their showers. That went quickly, and while Julia did her thing, Vivi and I did ours: playing a game. I was almost crying with laughter when, during one round, she whomped me thoroughly while singing a crazy song that incorporated words from the game.
Before too long, it was bedtime. I packed them off into their rooms, where we somehow wound up discussing and practicing the art of the eye roll. Both girls were hilariously bad at it, thank goodness. They’re probably lying awake in their beds practicing it right now, though.
