Thursday, April 5, 2012

Saying goodbye is never easy

As Biscuit and I were leaving day care today, I saw a little boy from his class coming out with his mom. Biscuit loves this little boy, and this little boy loves Biscuit. So I waited until he and his mom got to the other side of our car, then I rolled down Biscuit's window.

Let's call the friend Elmer.

"BYE, ELMER!" Biscuit yelled, and the little boy came running over to our car.

He grabbed the window sill and stood up on his tiptoes. He was just tall enough that you could see his eyes and the top of his nose. "Bye, Griffin," Elmer said.

Elmer started to walk away, then he saw the firetrucks Biscuit was holding.

"Hey, I like your firetrucks," Elmer said.

"Thanks," Biscuit said. "They're red, and red is my favorite color. They put out fires. And they have ladders."

"I like firetrucks," Elmer said. "I have two firetrucks at home." Then he turned to face his mom. "MOM, TELL GRIFFIN THAT I HAVE TWO FIRETRUCKS AT HOME!"

"He has two firetrucks at home," Elmer's mom said.

"I do," Elmer said. "I have two firetrucks."

"That's really cool," Biscuit said. "Firetrucks are my favorite. But horses are my favorite, too. Do you like horses?"

"I like horses," Elmer said. "I have some toy horses at home. They don't have cowboys, though."

"I like cowboys," Biscuit said. "Cowboys ride horses. They ride the range."

"What's a range?" Elmer asked.

"It's where cowboys ride their horses," Biscuit said. (Well of COURSE it is.)

All during this conversation, I was thinking about how I needed to go to two stores before we could head home for dinner. I glanced up a couple of times to smile at Elmer's mom.

Then I realized that she and I both were trying to figure out how to break up this conversation so we could go our respective ways.

Finally, the boys hit a lull in their conversation. So I said to Biscuit, "Say goodbye to Elmer so we can go home."

"BYE, ELMER!" Biscuit yelled, and I quickly rolled up the window.

The boys will see each other tomorrow, but I guess when you're 3, tomorrow is a long time to wait.

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