Monday, March 5, 2012

Slumber Party

I remember very few things about my first time sleeping over at a friend's house.  We ate pizza, she had a rabbit, it rained really hard and I cried until my parents came to pick me up.  Not so successful.  Once I got the anxiety of that first sleepover out of the way, I was hooked on the marathon of giggles and braid chains that accompanied each night spent with a friend.

Thankfully for Cael, he won't have to worry about crying over his cheese pizza at a friend's house, because he already has his first sleepover under his belt.  Last week, during our weekly Wednesday night Subway dinner (family tradition), my sister Amy suggested that Cael stay the night and have a "cousin sleepover".  I knew that Cael would be excited, but I wondered what emotion my generous nephews would feel as Cael kicked them in their shins and demanded french toast sticks at 3am.  Or what if Hurricane Cael-trina made landfall at my sister's house and all of them awoke to the washing machine overflowing with soap suds and the car crashed through the wall?  This might be a bad idea.

I recommended that they have a back-up plan in case Cael was unable to wind down and refuse to sleep.  It is my experience (daily) that Cael cannot relax, even with a hefty dose of Children's Benadryl, unless he is confined to a room with no toys and no lights.  Maybe some day he'll make us all famous by defying the laws of science and stay awake for three months.  Or maybe he'll just get arrested for stealing Unisom from a 24-hour Walmart when he's in fourth grade.

When the time came for me to drop Cael off, he could barely contain his enthusiasm.  He jumped and galloped around my sister's house shouting, "My sleepover, my sleepover!"  And poor Graham simply asked, "I come too?"  Unfortunately, he's still too young, and he's much too gentle to be subjected to a night in the same bed with flailing, thrashing Cael. 

"Graham, how about we have our own sleepover?  We'll do something special, okay?"


I hugged Cael, begged him to be good and sleep a reasonable number of hours, and headed home to break out the crepe paper and balloons for the party of the century.

"Graham, what do you want to do?"

"Drink Propel!"

"Really?  That's it?"

"Wear Mickey peejees!"

"Okay, we can do that.  What else?"

I figured he'd want to play with his toys or eat some ice cream.  On the way home I told him we'd do something special, so I assumed that ride home was so quiet because he was thinking so hard about how best to cash in on his one-on-one Mommy time.  As he laid out the terms of our party, however, it began to seem like he was more interested in watching paint dry than having a sleepover with his old lady.

"Snuggle on yours bed?"

Now that's more like it.

As Graham and I cuddled under a blanket, I smiled at the photos my sister texted me of my big boy, nuzzled up to his "big" cousins and exceeding my expectations.  He went to sleep without issue, didn't assault anyone during the night, and when he woke up AFTER 7am, the cat was unharmed and accounted for.  I couldn't be prouder.

Photobucket  Photobucket

Maybe Cael is ready to be up by himself in the mornings after all.

Hmm... maybe not.


  1. Well done Cael! :)
    ps. Mary, you had repinned a recipe for roasted chickpeas on pinterest, I have been trying to find it, but couldn't. Any ideas?

    1. Shaz- I haven't made them yet, but my sister is hooked. Here's the link:

    2. Oh my gooooodness...that is absolutely the sweetest, cutest video I've ever seen of Graham (or pretty much any little kid) ever! What a good boy that when you said it must be bedtime he replied, "Yup!" I LOVE this video!

    3. Isn't he so sweet? Get him on his own and he's the gentlest little guy ever!

