Lucy hates to talk on the phone. She must get that from me. When she does deign to grace me with her voice, she does it in all caps.

“HI, MOM. YOU’RE IN DALLAS? UM, TODAY I’M GOING TO GET PICKED UP BY ALEX’S MOM EARLY AND HAVE A PLAY DATE. I MISS YOU. UM, ARE YOU BRINGING ME A GIFT? I LOVE YOU, BYE.”

I am walking through the house with Cass, the architect, discussing paint and flooring. Jason is in the other room, discussing whether or not Lu is going to watch TV.

Lu, losing the argument, says loudly, “Dammit!”

Cass and I freeze. I hear silence from Jason in the other room. Cass and I squelch laughter. Jason, collecting himself, stands firm in his anti-TV position (and wins, I should note), without acknowledging the cuss word.

So, um, we have a swearing problem at our house. As much as I’d like to think she learned it from those thugs at school, I am pretty sure she learned it from me. We need some kind of strategy for correcting her, except for the part where we can’t stop laughing. It’s funny. Dammit.