Where's my boy?

Jeff and I ditched our boy this afternoon. We met my parents halfway between their house and ours, unloaded his stuff into their car and headed back home alone.

This morning, I went upstairs to get Biscuit's suitcase, and he had already grabbed it and packed it.

He had a fire helmet, his belt, his Yankees baseball cap, a toy baseball bat and a toy fire ax.

"I'm all ready to go, Mom," Biscuit said.

"I can see that," I said. "Can you go play in the living room and let me get your clothes together?"

He went to play, and I emptied the contents of his suitcase into a tote bag and packed his suitcase with stuff to wear. I had everything ready to go, and Biscuit came in with some Spider-Man slippers.

"Mom, my feet might get cold, so I need these slippers," he said. Biscuit wears footed pajamas, so I don't think he'll need the slippers, but I didn't care enough to make a fuss.

"Mom, can I carry some of my animals?" Biscuit asked. He was talking about stuffed animals.

"Sure," I said. And then he rounded the corner with about eight animals (two bears, a horse, two dogs, a dolphin, a giraffe and a cow). "Um, how 'bout you just pick your three favorites?"

Thankfully, I didn't meet any resistance. He grabbed Puppy, Pinto the horse and Grover, a bear that he pretends is a dog.

He wanted to take a bat and ball, his skates (plus pads and helmet), some cars, some firefighters, some cowboys and horses, some of his plastic tools and a flashlight. Luckily, none of these things took up too much space, so I told him he could take anything that fit into the tote bag. Grandmama has toys at her house, so I doubt he'll even play with some of the stuff he took, but if it makes him feel better about being away from home, I'm fine with him taking whatever he needs.

Jeff and I went out to dinner tonight, and I just didn't know what to do with myself. First of all, Jeff and I had uninterrupted conversation. Secondly, I could look at my menu in peace, without having to entertain the little man and help him figure out what he wanted to eat. Then when my food came, I could just start eating.

I burned my mouth on the first bite of my food.

"Whoa! That's hot," I said. And then I realized that my food is usually cooling while I'm cutting up Biscuit's food and getting him ready to eat. But tonight, I could just dig in. It was very odd.

Biscuit is staying with my parents until Friday. We're going to drive halfway to meet them again after work Friday evening and get our boy back.

I was feeling a little guilty earlier in the evening.

"Is it bad that I'm not sad about the boy leaving?" I asked Jeff.

He laughed and said, "It's not like he's never coming back. You know that he's in good hands. You know that he's going to have a good time. So that makes it okay to enjoy your time without him."

Then I laughed and said, "Do you realize that we've had this same conversation every time he's gone somewhere without us?"

Just before we met my parents, I said to Biscuit, "I'm going to miss you while you're gone."

"But Mom," Biscuit said, "I'm not going to miss you."

"You won't miss me at all?" I asked.

"Mom, I won't miss you because I like Grandmama and Papa, too," he explained.

I'm really glad he enjoys spending time away from us. I think it makes him more independent. Plus, I read somewhere recently that kids who have a sense of family and family history deal better in stressful situations because they have a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves.

So we'll see Biscuit again Friday, but until then, here is a photo session he and I had last night. He was in the mood to make faces (and yes, he is wearing Christmas pajamas in February!).

We're having our bathroom remodeled, so we took down all
the towel bars and hand towel rings. Biscuit grabbed a hand
towel ring and said it was his hat with a light on the front.

Some of the others are funny, but this one is my favorite. He's my sweet boy.