This week I’m down to one kid. One lonely one-year old who is suddenly missing his siblings.

We dropped the older two Gremlins at their grandparents house on our way home from vacation. I talked with both of them extensively beforehand, explained over and over that once we left we weren’t coming back to get them for a full week. It’s a 3+ hour drive to pick them up, so they had to be SURE they wanted to stay. If not, they needed to come home with us. Both decided they wanted to stay with Grandma and Grandpa.

That lasted about a day.

The 7-yr old Gremlin is used to being away from us. She loves to travel. I don’t worry about her at all. She sounded a little bored without her usual band of constant playmates, but I know she’ll settle in and have fun. The 4-yr old though, hasn’t spent long away from home. He’s been away from me several weeks in the last month with all my travel, but all those times he was still at home. He still had his toys, his routine, his friends on the street to go play with. This is his first “trip” away from home for any length of time, and I knew he’d probably have trouble. But when I talked to him yesterday – ONE day after we’d left them – my heart just broke.

“Mommy, can you please please PLEASE come pick me up? I promise I’ll be good. Just come get me. Please???” Said amidst major tears.

Ugh. It kills me. And my DH keeps saying this is good for the boy. But gosh, it’s hard to hear. I love him dearly, but I’m almost afraid to call and talk to him today.

The one kid I’m left with – Gremlin #3, who has always been my easiest – is suddenly very demanding. There’s no one to distract him, so guess who he’s suddenly attached to at the hip? Yep. Me. Luckily though, he is a good napper and I managed to get 10 pgs written yesterday. Of course, it would be more impressive if those were 10 pgs on the WIP and not just goofing around pages. But still, I guess writing’s writing and you take what you can get. Gonna try to work on the WIP a little when he naps today. Wish me luck…