When Willy goes away the lils miss him terribly.  They are cranky, act out, and ask after him frequently.  He doesn’t travel as much as he used to, but it is often enough that they are somewhat used to it and know they don’t like it.  He is rarely gone for more than a week, but when he comes home he is lavished with attention and affection.  It’s very sweet.

This past weekend, I went away for a short trip with some girlfriends.  I was gone for less than two full days, and while I had fun, I did miss everyone at home.  When I arrived the house was pretty quiet, but I was fairly confident that they were lurking somewhere inside, so I called my “hello”s as I brought my stuff in. I was met with crickets.

Willy appeared as I was bringing in the last of the stuff, and explained that the lils were in the basement. I put away the perishables and quickly caught up on the weekend. When no lil peeps appeared, I went searching. I found them in the office, and leaned in to give them each a kiss. Woo turned away from me, and Goose told me that she didn’t want me. Though it wasn’t the reaction I wanted and expected, I tried to talk to them and got more rejection.  I was more than a little surprised, but tried to roll with it.  After a little bit of coaxing they both came upstairs, and VERY slowly started to tell me about their weekend, and finally let me give them hugs and kisses about ninety minutes after I arrived.  With this, I figured that all was well in the world.

After their baths, I asked Willy the usually “who is taking who” question.  They hadn’t discussed it in the bath, so I proposed that I ask them who wanted to come with me.  We do try to mix up bedtime so no one gets too attached to one parent or the other, but I figured that Goose would pick me (as she always does) and this would allow Woo to pick Willy (as he always does) and they would both be happy.  So I asked.

“Woo can have you” replied Goose.

“No, I want Daddy!!” cried Woo.

They both then ran to Willy for affection.  I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so I did a bit of both. Where is my love?