Dear Kid,

It was a long, long night.

I was awakened at 1:30am by “rrrrr..rwo-arf! rrrrr..rwo-arf! rrrrr..rwo-arf!!”

To be clear, there aren’t many things I can think of that warrant being woken up at 1:30am. Perhaps, “Mom, I won the election for President of the United States!” or “The baby’s been born” but other than those I can’t think of much.

Even “I have a plate of fabulous chocolate for you” can wait until a more reasonable hour, chocolate shortage notwithstanding.

So “rrrrr..rwo-arf! rrrrr..rwo-arf! rrrrr..rwo-arf!” didn’t even make my top 10 list.

After several minutes, I got (groggily) out of bed, stumbled over to the window, and looked out. I expected to see a herd of deer holding an Occupy meeting or possibly a squadron of attack drones. I saw absolutely nothing.

I therefore did what all good moms do: I ignored the puppy (the barking had stopped when I got up) and collapsed back into bed.

Exactly what the puppy didn't look like last night. DearKidLoveMom.com1:47 am

“RRRRWWWooooof! rrrrr..rwo-arf! Wooof Woooof WWWWWoooooffffff!”

I pried an eyelid open. Dad really needed to sleep, so I kindly did not put my foot in the middle of his back and push. Downstairs, the puppy switched from barking to whining when he heard me.

Me: What?
Puppy: Wwooof! Woof!
Me: There will be no barking. What do you need?

I expected him to charge out of his cage. He sauntered. Then he trotted over to get a toy.

Me: Seriously? Show me what you want.

The puppy made sure I followed him as he trotted happily through every room on the first floor.

Me: The middle of the night and you resort to canine-speak? The one time when it would really be helpful for you to talk to me?

So I took him for a walk. It’s cold at 2am in December. There didn’t seem to be any urgency on his part, although he did spend extra time sniffing around our mailbox.

I took him inside, told him he’d been a good doggy for utilizing the outdoors to the fullest extent, put him back to bed, then put myself back to bed.

2:15 am

“Yip!”

“Yip! Yip!”

“Yip!!!”

I went back downstairs. This time he was clear.

Puppy: You put me away without breakfast
Me: It’s the middle of the night. No breakfast
Puppy: I would like breakfast
Me: I would like to sleep. Guess who wins?

So I curled up on the sofa, the puppy curled up on his favorite pillow, and we slept.

I’m still wondering if he heard something outside, if his clock was off, or if he just wanted to sleep on his pillow.

Doesn’t really matter. I explained that this was not a game I approved of and we ran him like crazy today to tire him out.

I hope. Must. Go. Sleep.zzzzzzzzz

Love, Mom

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