He Needed His Puppy

Dude has been talking all big about how we never let him stay home alone for any amount of time yada yada yada . . . especially to Grandma. Well, yesterday morning he had his chance. Hubby was gone flying, and I had a 7:30 a.m. meeting I couldn’t get out of. Typically, I would have just called into the meeting from home and come in after that, but yesterday, I had meetings from 7:30 - 12:00 noon so that wasn’t an option. Ya - I know, you’re all extremely jealous
Sooooo, Dude had his chance. He leaves for the bus at 7:20, so he had exactly 30 minutes from the time Princess and I left until he had to walk out the door to the bus. He was all good with it. He was bragging about how it would be so cool. He was excited that I was giving him this chance. He told me to quit worrying about it because he gets himself ready and to the bus every morning, even when I’m there.

Then 6:50 rolled around, and Princess and I were walking out the door. He kept saying “I wish Duma was here.” (she was at doggie daycare because of our hectic day)

We gave hugs and kisses and all that jazz. He stood by the window and yelled at us and waved at us as we drove down the street.

At 7:10, I called him on my cell after dropping Princess off. He talked all tough and I could HEAR his eyes rolling at me when he said “You don’t NEED to call me. I can do this myself. I’m fine. I’m not a baby.” I explained that yes I did NEED to call him - cuz I’m the mom and that’s what we do. Then I said “I love you buddy” and I heard a slight quiver in the tough man voice as he said “I love you, too.”

All was well . . . he got on the bus, went to school, and I had my marathon meeting day. I got home before he did. There was one message on the machine from the neighbor, checking to make sure he made it on the bus before she took her kids to school. I’d asked her to just check in to make sure, but I didn’t tell Dude that. So yay, thank you neighbor!

Then about 15 minutes later, Hubby called. He called to tell Dude that he was sorry he didn’t answer his cell phone when Dude called that morning, but he was in a meeting and didn’t have it on. Apparently, 10 minutes after we walked out the door, Dude called Hubby to chat Mr. Tough Guy was a little spooked.

When Dude got home, I told him how much I appreciated that I could trust him to be home for a little while alone when weird days like this happen and I have to leave early. Told him how proud I was that he did it. Then I asked him how it was being home alone for a few minutes. He said “It was OK. I didn’t really like it.” He said he was bored - there was nothing to do. He confirmed that he wouldn’t be bugging me to leave him home alone again anytime soon I asked him if he was a little scared, and he said No.

Then when I was kissing him good night he said “Ya know, I was a little scared. This car pulled in the driveway to turn around and I didn’t know who it was. Then I kept hearing all these noises - it’s really quiet without other people here, and weird sounds happen. It would have been better with Duma here. I just wish Duma had been here with me.”

Whew! I don’t know if I could have handled BOTH of my kids discovering that they DON’T NEED ME in one week