Let Sleeping Dragons Lie

So this year for LD’s birthday, we had a slumber party. His birthday landed on a Tuesday, but we decided to celebrate the Saturday before. This is not an uncommon thing. What was a bit on the uncommon side was the fact that L decided that it would be a slumber party…

It wasn’t a unilateral decision, we had been brainstorming for ideas, and wanted to keep it simple. LD wanted the science magic people back from last year, but after hearing about the slumber party, his mind changed immediately. Nine of his friends sleeping over? His head nearly exploded on the spot. Which would have been unfortunate, and a mess to clean.

We sent out the invites, and got “yes” replies within seconds. It seems that not only were his friends excited, but, for some strange reason, the parents of this mob of six year olds were eager to send them over to our place for the night. Puzzling, no?

In the week before the actual event, not only was LD asking every 12 seconds if it was time for the party yet, but his friends were, too. I would get mobbed by a tiny horde of six year old boys and girls when I dropped LD off or picked him up form school. Parents were letting me know that the same thing was happening in their own homes – the twins’ dad told me that his sons had packed their suitcases a week before the party and put them by the front door.

And I kept getting stares of sympathy from parents as well. They knew that I would be in charge, with L & my mom (Gramma O) as backup, but I kept hearing about how brave we were, about how they didn’t envy me, about how they were ok with me calling and delivering their children home if they got overly rambunctious or homesick. It was only 9 kids, all about five or six years old (not including LG) – what could possibly go wrong?

In all honesty – nothing went wrong. It was smooth sailing all night. Sure they were a little loud at times, sure they ran around a lot and occasionally made it seem like there were 90 kids rather than 9, but that was to be expected. When it came down to it, the kids were better behaved than I could have possibly imagined. The boys and girls listened when it counted, and did things that surprised me. For example, when I told them to go wash their hands before they dug into the pizza, they melted into a perfect single file line. When I was talking to another parent during a drop off and LD tried to interrupt, one of the girls shushed him, saying that it wasn’t nice to interrupt grownups.

The night went by fairly rapidly; they entertained themselves for the most part (though I pity our poor hamster & our two dogs). We had pizza for dinner, then opened gifts, then had cake (chocolate with chocolate frosting decorated with the help of LD in the form of a dinosaur diorama, complete with a volcano and little plastic dinos) and ice cream, then they watched “Wall*E”. One little girl, R, likes LD quite a bit, and shows it through hitting, punching and flying tackles most of the time. Right before LD opened his gifts, she leaned over and bit him – she’d only meant to get his shirt, but she wound up hitting skin. She was mortified, because LD started sobbing – he was not expecting it at all (who would be?). They made up, the waterworks stopped, and into the presents they tore.

LG was fascinated by all then new little big people running around. She kept toddling after them, and they were excellent playmates. I think that they thought of her as a living doll – they paid a lot of attention to her, taking turns playing with her and she absolutely loved it. She kept bouncing from person to person, babbling all night long and breaking out into spontaneous fits of dancing. It was completely adorable.

We were going to break out our mongo family sized tent, but the kids were too excited. Right after dinner they whipped into the living room, whipping open their sleeping bags and slipping into their PJs. It was like a colorful little whirlwind of activity for about 15 minutes, with fluorescent bags flying past cartoon laden pajamas. They laid themselves out like pieces of a puzzle, with no clashes or disagreements. By the time all was said and done, putting up the tent would have been a monumental chore.

Lights were out by 9:30, and most of the crew was asleep at 9:31. There were three holdouts, though. I was sleeping on the couch that night so I would be in the room with the kids in case of homesickness, fighting or natural disaster. Because I was out there, I tried to reign in the twins, J & I, and their cohort in crime, our across-the-street neighbor, T-tah. They were giggling and talking, and needing to go to the bathroom multiple times. They managed to stay up until nearly 11, even after I separated them. Other than that, the only incident that night was when the blonde twin (I), got up and started pacing in circles around his sleeping bag, in a sleep-walking, looking for a bathroom sort of way. I got him set on the right path, and that was that.

The next morning rolled around, and everyone spontaneously awoke at about 7 am. Between pancakes (they were vegan… just use Bisquik with soy milk instead of cow milk and replace each egg with a tablespoon of vanilla soy yogurt – we tend to use Silk soy products as they don’t leave an aftertaste – can’t tell that the pancakes are any different than non-vegan types), playtimes, and “Kung Fu Panda”, the morning slipped by quickly.

LD ‘s mood went south a little after everyone had gone, which was to be expected. He’d been amped up for days, and he wasn’t sure how to handle the release of all that energy. He worked it out though, and had a great time with GO the rest of the day.

Sunday was a day of decompression and swimming, with GO taking LG to her class, then spending family swimming helping LD touch the bottom of the 9’ portion of the pool. Both of the kids love to swim, and LG really likes splashing around in the pool. We go every Sunday to their lessons, it’s a nice little family time.

LD’s actual birthday came around on Tuesday, and it was a day filled with SUGAR. A seriously intense, mountain o’ sweets were plied into him – GO took him for chocolate chip pancakes and hot coco with whip cream for breakfast, then he was allowed to buy his lunch (cookies & chocolate milk were on the menu), then we took cupcakes into his class, then dinner at the Spaghetti Factory where he had his first Italian soda (cherry) and a bowl of ice cream. By the end of the day, he was in sugar shock… he was completely beyond bouncing off the walls, he was vibrating at near supersonic speeds. His pupils were completely dilated, and when he spoke, his words all rushed together trying to tumble out all at once. He so rarely gets sugar that this effect was not unexpected.
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LG really likes going to her preschool. The TN is in Taiwan for a month and a half, and we had to find something to do with the kids while she was gone. LD went into the before & after school program at his elementary school, while we found a preschool for LG – the Whizz Kids Academy. The first day she went, she was apprehensive and cried when I left her – now she can’t wait to get in the door. She walks in yelling “HIIIIII!” at the top of her lungs, waving to all the kids and teachers. They do art, go outside, play a lot and get good food.

It’s strange, but about a month ago LG decided that she was going to start kicking into high gear with separation anxiety. Any time a sitter comes over or we drop her off at the gym’s kid area or even if we look like we might possibly leave, she bursts into tears while running to tackle our legs. According to everyone we’ve talked to, almost as soon as we’re out of sight, she’s ok again, at least until we show up to pick her up, then it’s tears all over again.

Sheesh, can’t win for losin’ Or something like that.