sleepover

We had no kids Saturday night. They were left in the care and control of a babysitter at someone else's home! He'd done this before, and even gotten four boys (ages 4-7) in and out of baths, so we were optimistic that it'd go fine. Last time however, we'd brought them home at 11pm. What we learned was that if your child is still used to taking naps, sleeping from 9pm til 11pm is a bit like a nap and if you expect this child to transfer sleepily into bed, you are wrong. ("Hey! Let's play!") So this time we'd decided to leave them all night.

I'd been a bit reluctant to try this. Bug is only four. He wakes up often at night. He still wets the bed sometimes. He screams in his sleep sometimes and can't be consoled. He always wakes at 6:30, regardless of his bedtime. He can be --I'll be generous here-- unpleasant when he's tired. So I wasn't sure if a sleepover was a good idea. We tried it out at our house a few times. I think we've had other kids over three times now, maybe more. At our house it went ok. Another house, especially L&P's seemed like the next step. The kids were certainly looking forward to trying.

We went out to dinner with L&P, shared a bit of good wine and lots of good Italian food, and then more good wine. We'd driven together so since we were in their driveway, I went in to check on the boys. I'm not sure I've ever not kissed their sweaty baby heads goodnight. I stepped over a few bodies, crowded onto a small bedroom floor together, and covered them up with sheets after unzipping the too-hot-but-part-of-the-experience sleeping bags. CD and I went home and crashed.

I woke at about 3am and fell into uneasy dreams which kept repeating. In one, Pook got into a subway train that Bug and I didn't manage to board. In another, Bug got into an elevator without me or Pook. I knew, even while dreaming, that my dreams were directly related to having my babies missing from the house, but I couldn't break away from them. Although I wasn't worried or anxious about them sleeping away, I missed them. Even when CD and I dragged our sorry bums out of bed in time to (barely) meet them at church in the morning.

They, of course, had a fabulous time. The babysitter claims everyone was asleep by 9pm. L even got up in time to make pancakes for the crowd. (Bug probably woke the whole house). Unfortunately, there were not four boys in attendance at Sunday School. Their youngest had woken up vomiting. Our fingers are crossed that this will not spread to our house, but I am not optimistic. We will, however, try the sleepover again.