about last night

S: You're doing a sleepover all by yourself Norah... good job!!
N: Yeah. It's easy.
S: Yeah.
N: Well, not really by myself... with you and Sawyer and your mom and dad are here too you know.
S: Yeah. But it's easy. It's just like my mom having two girls!
N: Yeah. Like we're sisters. If Sawyer had a friend here there would be two boys.
S: Or if you brought your favorite boy friend we would have two boys here too. Four kids, oh my gosh! Ewww... who would want two boys?!!
N: Yeah, ewww. (Pause) Who's your favorite boy friend Savannah?
S: Um... a boy named Sammy. Who's your favorite?
N: Um... I guess it would be Luke. :)

This is what I overheard in Savannah's bedroom last night. Savannah had her friend come over for her first real sleepover. Talk about exciting! She's been talking this up for months, asking me at least weekly; "maybe Sophie could come for a sleepover?... maybe Kristin would want to have a sleepover?... maybe we could invite Norah for a sleepover?..." and finally we all agreed to give it a try. Last month our kids and the Swinigan girls had a combo babysitter with a super late night at their house. She talked about it like a sleepover, but since we came in and plucked them out of bed to take them home at midnight, she always told me (in her wise four year old voice), "I know it's not a real sleepover mom".
So last night was the night. Norah came over and the girls played dress-up (what else?!) for a bit, but were then telling me by 7 o'clock that they were ready for bed. I was going to hold them off until after I'd put Sawyer to bed, but when I came upstairs I found them already in their pj's, brushing their teeth with books picked out on their beds, blankets, animals and night light ready. Too funny!

Of course they didn't settle down for a looong time after that, and after listening to the giggling and hopping (?!) going on up there for over an hour, I went up at about 9 to remind them to settle down. I then stood outside their door, knowing they'd be out of hand again in a few minutes. And I wish I had a tape recorder. Their conversations were just absolutely cracking me up. So random, so off the wall, so giddy with sleepover excitement, so four year old version of 10 year old overnighter conversations... hilarious!

Another random one:
on the heels of a conversation about meeting each other's friends and friends who have the same names...
N: Do you go to the same Dr. as I go to?
S: No, my Dr. is someone else. (the girls do in fact have the same pediatrician)
N: What is her name?
S: Dr. Wingday. (her name is actually Dr. Hanson)
The nurses name is Miss Erin. (another made up)
N: My Dr's name is Dr. um... Bookey.
S: Oh yeah, I've met her. (?!!) Sawyer's Dr. is Dr Gootie. And the nurse is Dr Fluesh.
N: Oh, I've met them too. They're nice.

They finally fell asleep at little after 10. With me sitting quietly inside the bedroom door. I was torn at what to do... on one hand I'm all for planning sleepovers before really having nothing to do the next day and just letting the girls (and boys I guess, when Sawyer's older) (no, not the same night!!) do what they want... if they end up giggling until 1am (and probably eventually 4am) then so be it. I think that's part of the fun of a sleepover. There shouldn't be a bedtime. Quiet time yes, but not a "you need to go to sleep now!". However... at four years old?? I just don't know if they'd ever settle down without getting wound up beyond belief you know? So I just wasn't sure whether I should let them be and see what happened, or step in and be a calm and present reminder of time to lay quietly. But I did, and Norah was out in about 5 minutes with Savannah not far behind.

All in all, a success! I'm glad they had fun!!