Almost everything about today was out of the ordinary. It started with Thalia complaining of a sore throat and not having as big a breakfast as usual. She also didn’t want to wear her PJs for her school’s PJ day. Nonetheless, we got Siena onto the bus and Thalia dropped off successfully, and then we went and said goodbye to the teacher who had taught Siena in Pre-K and is leaving the school before Thalia gets to her class (perhaps she is getting out while the getting is good). (Also, it must have been nice for her to be able to wear pajamas on her last day.)

The unusual aspect of the day continued as Mama and I drove into Framingham to see the Hobbit in “3D HFR,” which is to say the 48fps 3D version. This was the closest theater to us showing it, and we decided to make a “date day” of it by catching the 10 AM showing (us and the other nerds) and then lunch. It was a fun movie, although the new frame rate was jarring, and it’s not clear why this needs to be done in three movies instead of two.

As we left the theater, we both had missed calls from day care: Upon calling back, we learned Thalia was feverish, and 3 other kids had recently been diagnosed with flu. Worse, we have failed to get Thalia her flu shot for this season! She was napping, so we went to pick her up at 3 PM. When she got home she wanted to go back to bed, but then she threw up. This is also unusual, because it is the first time either of us can remember that she has thrown up. She’s had an iron stomach so far, at least compared to her sister who’s an old pro at this. Poor Thalia wasn’t really sure what was going on, and the rest of the day, seemingly each time she needed to cough she would get up and run to the bathroom thinking she needed to throw up, but she never did again, much to our relief. We put her to bed around 6 PM just before the rest of us had dinner. This is the sickest she’s been in her three years.

And then finally the unusual activity continued as we read and learned about the tragic shootings in Newtown, Connecticut today. This made us hug our girls all the more strongly tonight and think about how much their presence here means to us and impacts our lives.