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“Can I just watch Wild Kratts?” Colum said, already halfway to the TV.
“Dinner is going to be ready in, like, five minutes. So I don’t think —”
The TV was turned on and Irene instantly materialized to join him. Well, fine.
“Mary,” I called down to the playroom. “You want to watch TV with Colum? You want to see some animals on TV? Mary likes animals.”
She’s really too young to be downstairs by herself and I was trying to get dinner finished.I strained the pasta and then, just before adding the penne to the sauteed veggies, I picked up my phone and checked in with Twitter. I replied to a couple people and double checked that I hadn’t missed any important emails at the end of the business day.
“Guys, dinners ready.”
“…”
“Dinner’s ready! It’s served! Guys!”
“…”
“COLUM. COLUM. COLUM!”
“What?”
“Pause that show. Dinner is ready.”
“Oh.”
They all came tumbling into the kitchen and climbed onto their stools. Mary and Irene both ate the noodles and sausage, ignoring the perfectly seasoned Ontario asparagus, what is their problem, and red pepper. Then Irene was suddenly back in the living room with the TV and Colum was about to abandon his own meal half-eaten to join her.
“No,” I said and marched over to the TV. “Nobody gets to watch anything until everybody is finished eating. And then you can finish this episode and that is it.”
They watched the rest of the show and then an episode of Doc McStuffins, I think. I don’t know. I was on my phone.
Not pictured: The glow of the tablet streaming Netflix on Irene’s lap.
