I'll take the hugs

My grandson...  Instead of taking the bus that comes RIGHT past our house this year, we're doing a shuttle bus instead.  So I cart him over to the bus stop every morning and pick him up every afternoon.  The reason for our switch up was that the bus that runs past our house, makes the stop at 7am.  REALLY?!  He'd be on the bus or in the bus room for over an hour every morning and then the same hour or more every afternoon after school.  

Last year he got in enough trouble on the bus.  No need to tempt fate with more time to kill...

So he's doing what his dad and aunts did with the shuttle bus.  When they got their own cars, they stopped riding it.  OR when their friends got cars and they could bum a ride from them until they got their own car and started carting around THEIR car-less friends.

Anyway, yesterday after school, I happened to notice that it was almost time to drive over to the bus stop to get him, so I scrambled and got there just as the buses were driving up to the drop off point.  But since I was the last parent/grandparent to arrive, I parked WAY down the block behind at least 3 minivans of moms who were picking up 5 kids each vehicle.

From a distance I saw him pop around the corner, look furtively around then disappear.  The red shorts helped!

hmmm...  I waited.  He had been instructed to walk down the pickup block and look for me, but he hadn't.

As soon as the minivan moms drove away and I could pull ahead, I pulled around the block and found him walking the sidewalk in despair.  Wow was he shook up and upset with me!!  

YOU WEREN'T THERE!!!  THIS IS WHY I NEED A CELL PHONE!!!!

Um yeah I was... You didn't do what you were supposed to do.  

And nope - your dad and aunts didn't have one and THEY survived!

I was never more than a few minutes late picking them up, if that much, and I won't be with him either.  Especially now.  I've got my alarm set on my phone for the correct time each day.

BUT we reviewed what he should do, in case, for some unknown reason, that I don't show up, what he should do.  Later that night, Robb reminded me of a couple other things Leon could do.  Oh yeah!

So the rest of the day, he was super clingy and wanted to cuddle.  Do you know how awkward but sweet it is to have a 4' 2" gangling kid ask you to put your laptop aside and he climbs into your lap and hug the heck out of you?  Work can wait.

After a while and once I disentangled myself, we made cookies.  Incorrectly.  I misread the back of the cookie packet and since we'd just run out of butter, we used veg oil and instead of a tablespoon of water, we put in an egg.  That's the part I misread.

They didn't have exactly the right consistency for cookies, but Leon still ate a bunch.

Then later while supper was cooking, we cuddled on the big butt chair.

I love that kid...

and I will NOT be late all year.

Whistle in the Wind

Whew!  The wind was so brutal this morning!  I made Leon wear snow pants to the bus stop instead of stuffing them into his back pack.  But I haven't owned snow pants since... I don't think I ever did!

When I was a teenager and wanted to go sledding, if I felt the need, I doubled up on layers of pants.  Maybe a pair of sweats under a pair of jeans or vice versa.  

Woe to you if you wore a brand new pair of cheap jeans out onto the slopes!  You'd end up with blue legs from the leeched blue dye as things thawed.

But I looked so awesome out there in them...

Anyway, at the bus stop this morning, I held Leon's face to my coat as the wind whipped around us.  A neighbor lady that usually waits with us and her kindergartner was parked in a car across the street waiting in warmth.  She pulled over and asked if Leon would like to wait in her car with them.  

YES PLEASE!!!  Then I went home and waved to him as he got on the bus from across the street, behind a glass door.  I don't think he thought to look for me.  Oh well.  He's at school, safe and sound now.

So much to do...  So much to do...

Is it the weekend yet?

Bus Stop Blues

Anyone remember that song, Bus stop, wet day, she's there, I say, Please share my umbrella.

A friend of mine got that mix tape from her husband when they first started dating.

So romantic... :)

I got a mix tape from a former boyfriend with a song performed by the Monkees...

Valerie

While SOMEWHAT romantic, that little romance fizzled out quick.  I happen to think he had LOTS of mix tapes with various women's names on them for such occasions.

I took Leon to the bus stop this morning and a little boy, his sister and grandma in jams walked over to wait with us.  Second day in a row.  Leon was thrilled until the little boy didn't want to do the same game they played yesterday, putting their hands on the cold street sign pole to see who took their hands off first.  So Leon got all quiet and fake weepy.  They both got over it by the time the bus came along. Yeah - two minutes later.

boys...

These photos are from Leon and my "Adventure walk" the other day.  In the above picture, this was JUST before I sat on the other side of this seesaw and almost catapulted him across the playground.  Seriously... I'm at least 3 times heavier than he is...  My butt was on the gravel...

But anyway, the bus stop friend reminded me of the many times I waited at the end of our driveway for the bus as a kid.  The neighbor girl would come over and wait with me most days whether I wanted her to or not.  Some times she was my best friend, other times not. 

In fifth grade, she and I worked out a dance routine to the tune of Hitchin' a Ride and performed it in front of the class...  Little did I realize, that talent scouts were not recruiting from Mrs. Barrow's class room that day.  And just because you and she could do the circle hands moves in perfect  synchronous motions, did not mean you'd hit the big time.  or become popular.  

I guess I was kind of a shy weirdo...

Leave me alone, I'd rather draw. or write. or sew.

I met up with Suzy on Facebook a few years back and she is just as zany now as she was then.  I must have posted or said something to upset her, because she dropped me as a FB friend a year or so later.

Wouldn't be the first time....

Anyway, where was I going with this?  Oh yeah, I've been there!  That little boy will be the worst/best friend of Leon's young life.  

We all need at least one of those.

I've had two! or more...