Demand barking...when he can't see me

Buster has gotten used to my summer morning routine...which includes gettin him out of his crate (in the family room), giving him scritches, putting his collars on, putting him outside, feeding him and then I head up to the kitchen and drink my coffee at the table. He messes around outside, pees and then comes and parks himself on the deck by the back door so that we are "together".

But I've noticed him getting more and more irritated if I can't sit down for coffee with him!

This morning I took a shower and he ran from the family room door to the kitchen door barking...and it's not the "alert something is wrong" barking. It's the "HEY where are you?" barking (which is more muffled and only 1 or 2 woofs at a time..but still a bark)
This is going to be a problem because with the kids back in school, my mornings are busier. Anybody have any thought on how to discourage this? It's gonna be pretty early for him to be waking the neighbors so i can't let it go.. but me going to the door to talk to him about it is a reward...because he wants my attention. So...all I can think of is that I can bring him back in and crate him or ignore him. Am I missing something?

(He's about to re-enter a more "curriculum" based existence regardless because this and a couple of other things make me think he needs some re-affirmation of the rules. His whole life is pretty much "grounded" so it's hard to take away his privileges (he has few) but somehow I'm catching a pushier vibe from him lately!)