Regression Confession

Milo sleeps with us at night. He's not a snuggler; he sleeps at our feet, but I enjoy his company when Mr.4444 is out of town. Last night, after I took Milo to bed with me, he began acting strangely, lying at the foot of the bed, whining.

The last time a dog whined in our darkened bedroom, it was Cooper. It turned out that he was alerting us to two peeping-Tom teenagers outside the window, but that's another story...

This was strange--Milo never whines at night. He loves going to bed with me and I can often tell that he wishes I go to bed at a more reasonable hour. Lately, he sits on the floor in the living room, in front of me, eyes closing, sucking on the last stuffed dog toy that we own (Steve's destroyed every other one.) It's so funny, because he hasn't done that in months (since Steve turned Milo's old lion to shreds).

Anyway, after a few minutes of whining, knowing he wasn't going to stop, I got up to let Milo outside. However, he didn't go towards the door; he went to the living room.  Strange; I had no clue what he was doing, and it was 10pm--I wasn't going to monkey around on a school night, so I tried to make him go outside, but he came back in and ran into the living room, where he whined a little bit and looked at me. That's when I realized what he wanted....

[photo taken today, not last night]

I couldn't believe it! The little bugger was crying for me to get his "blankey" and bring it to bed with us!

Of course I did. (Hey--I wanted to go to sleep, okay?!)

Besides, I couldn't say no; remember this sweet little lion hunter who couldn't stay awake long enough to eat his prey? It was a sad day when we had to throw that lion away before Steve choked on what was left of him. It was like throwing your kid's baby blanket in the trash.

What have I become?