Chronology of an Eight Year-Old Sleep Over

3:15 PM

First friend arrives with Super Girl.  They have both been at birthday party.

4:30 PM

Second friend arrives.  Trio appears to be getting along well, despite the fact that nature abhors trios.  Playing and singing of most songs from Mamma Mia ensues

5:00 PM

The girls have a "spray fight" with a bottle of Febreeze air freshener.  They use the whole bottle.  I start to have an asthmatic reaction which peaks at about 4:30 the next morning despite over-dosing on my Ventolin inhaler.

5:30PM

Supper- hamburger wraps.  More singing.

6:30PM

Movie starts- Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (the girls' choice).  Snacks and the ritualized wearing of extra underwear on their heads ensue.  Fumes are bad but don't seem to bother anyone else.

7:45PM

Orange pop and vanilla ice cream floats are a hit.

9:00PM

A bed time of sorts.  Air mattress and flip out kids' chesterfield are used in a dizzying array of all possible combinations of girls pillows and blankets.  The girls settle on The Beatles' Abbey Road.  Deep down I am bursting with pride at this classy choice even as my lungs feel like they may burst.

9:15PM

The first of many, many, many "Now its time to quiet down and go to sleep" speeches.  The girls are VERY well-behaved, but very wound-up...

10:30PM

Girls are finally asleep.  I am more choked up than ever.  Not bad...

1:25AM

My breathing has calmed enough that sleep is a good and possible idea.

1:26AM

Super Girl (age 5) is awake and says she thinks that she is going to be sick.  Happily she is not but she does have a fever (and has had one on and off most of the evening).

3:45AM

The girls are awake and noisy.  Happy, but noisy.  I go downstairs and lay down the law about how they are not to be up before 6:00AM.  They don't settle for a while and I end up on the downstairs love seat for the better part of an hour.

7:30AM

Sound of cartoons come from downstairs.  We don't know this for a while, but one girl called her parents at 7AM to announce that she had made it through the night.  Over breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, the girls claim to never gone back sleep since 3:30AM.  After breakfast, the girls pick Star Wars III as their movie of choice, followed by craft time and pick up by their respective moms.

 

Phew,

B.