I’ve been traveling a lot lately. It’s not unusual for me to go on a couple of business trips every year, but I’ve been on three trips in the past five months. When I’m away Greg takes care of A.J., shuttling him back and forth to daycare, walking him, and feeding him.

While they both miss me, to a certain extent Greg and A.J. enjoy my time away. Greg makes dinners that he doesn’t make when I’m home, and he shares them with A.J. They’re both pretty happy with this arrangement.

I got home from my latest trip yesterday. Tonight, after A.J. spent 30 minutes staring at me to tell me it was dinner time (starting 30 minutes before his dinner time), I gave him his usual dinner: a bowl of dog food. It was the same dog food he’s been eating for years. After I set his bowl down he walked over and looked at his food. He looked up at me, then back down at his bowl. I went and sat down, and he walked over to me and set his chin on my leg.

“What? Go eat your food.”

Chin on my leg, big brown eyes looking up at me.

“What?” I stood up. A.J. got all happy and wiggly. I walked over to his food bowl. He looked at his food, looked at me, looked at his food, looked at me.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I went to the refrigerator, pulled out some leftover sausage, and put a few small pieces on his food.

A.J. immediately ate the sausage and the entire bowl of food.

I think somebody has been getting a little too spoiled while I’ve been away.