Independent Oliver

[[Johnny]] and I were talking just last week about strategies for phasing [[Oliver]] into more independence. We’re not talking “here’s $5, see you in Vancouver” yet, more like “can you go over and borrow a cup of sugar from Johnny” (with appropriate roof-top spotters and GPS monitoring).

Today [[Catherine]] and Oliver and I were at the Friendly Pharmacy checking out the nascent Uberloo and its many and varied hand dryers. While looking around for an appropriate shampoo to purchase, we realized we’d lost track of Oliver. Before we had a chance to panic, Oliver came walking in the front entrance with a hot dog in hand: seems he’d decided that it would be a good idea to go out and get himself one (they were free) from the food bank fund-raising table.

And so we were left with the task of a treading a middle ground between lauding him for his independence and self-reliance and reinforcing the standard street-proofing mantras (don’t get into cars with strangers, even if they offer you hot dogs, etc.).

In any case, I think we can do away with the “journey to Johnny and Jodi” war-games, as Oliver has obviously already cut the apron strings on his own.

We fully expect to get up tomorrow morning to find that Oliver has gotten up, got dressed, and gone over to Casa Mia for a hot chocolate and smoked salmon bagel.