Achievements

This past week has been full of achievements. Mostly mine - but achievements nonetheless.

Last weekend, I actually let Pup leave the house without an adult escort. There, I said it and I actually did it! I’m proud of me but, to be perfectly honest, I stressed the whole time he was out of sight. In reality, he was probably only gone for about 40 minutes… You know, usual stuff like riding your bike around the streets…

I never had that. I went to school, came home and had to phone mom at work to let her know we were home. Immediately, and not negotiable. No walking the streets! I lived in a different country with different rules. But those old habits are hard to kill and not instill.

(To prevent confusion, “The Friend” is now Friend C and “Potential Friend” is now Friend J. All clear? No, not really but back to the story…)

The best way of putting it was that I was tricked into letting Friend C sleep over on Saturday night. I won’t go into details because then we’d be here forever, sufficed to say, I was not amused.

Friend J turned up on Saturday afternoon and the three decided that it would be fun to go get Friend C’s bike and then go to Friend J’s street, where apparently it is safer to ride. I felt brave and agreed. Friend C had to phone his mum to find out whether he could come home to pick up his bike! I kid you not – the phone call began with, “Hi Mum, it’s me. Can I come home to pick up my bike?” She finally consented. And then Friend J asked to phone home to find out whether his dad was home from work or not. His conversation started with, “Hey! Is this Mum?” Now, if I had answered the phone and was asked that, I would have replied with, “No, Mum can’t come to the phone right now, she’s left the country.” Perfect opportunity to play with their mind, but maybe that’s just my sick sense of humour. The end result was now they had the “All clear” and they left. This was when I started the stressing.

Fortunately, I have a clear view of most of the street they need to go down from one of our bedroom windows. So have a wild guess where I stood until they were out of sight.

After school on Monday, Friend J hightailed it here in the pouring rain, and Friend C followed shortly after.

On Tuesday, Friend J arrived here and they both left to go to Friend C’s house. Pup was supposed to be home by 5, and just as I was writing a text message to tell him to get his butt back home, I noticed that I had a message. It was from Pup, asking for 5 more minutes. I agreed and then took up the position at the window. I am so proud of him! He came home by himself! He also now knows about my vantage point, because I had to correct him on crossing the road. He’s asked me not to spy on him and I replied with the classic, “I do it because I care”. He was actually relieved though, because he didn’t go the way we normally walk because there were 2 older males walking towards him from that direction and didn’t feel comfortable heading their way. I figured that was fair because I saw them too and was again, proud of his judgment. My baby is growing up!

On Wednesday, Dad and I finally went bed shopping because we desperately needed them. We had compared all the catalogues and websites and we ended up with new beds and mattresses all round. It was really good value too because we spent almost the same amount on each of us.

On Thursday, the first delivery arrived, and we got to play, “Bed Building”. And begin my all time favourite, “Clean Up”.

On Friday, my ‘Unofficial Transcript’ from Uni finally read, “Admitted to Award” and I could register for Graduation. Since then, I’ve amused myself with the thought that I am now a Bachelor. Not too bad, considering I’m an ‘old’ married women with 3 sons.

On Saturday (today) the boys’ mattresses arrived and we got to finish playing “Bed Building”. Pup is still working on his version of “Clean Up” but he has until Monday to sort out the mess in his room. Then it’s my turn… Hee hee hee…