So the nephew has been hoping to stay overnight here for a while now (without his Mom and Dad around). But Mom and Dad have been hesitant. They worry he'll not like waking up in a "new" environment or that he'll get sick while away from them. But we all discussed it and figured 5 years old is old enough to sleep at a house he's been in many times with people who have slept with him in his house many times. So....
Last Friday, Uncle went to his house before he came home from school. Then packed up his gear and brought him over. Even though this was all planned, he still wanted to "surprise" me when arriving. So that's how I acted as he came through the front door. Pretty quickly, we were blowing bubbles. Later we went out to get his favorite dish for dinner, noodles from P Express. We all competed to see who would finish dinner first. And, of course, we make sure he comes in the winner. It is amazing to see how many noodles a 5 year old can put into his mouth. Luckily, he can still chew it all!
Back home, it's into his pajamas then more bubbles. Then he states he wants to "tractor" on the computer. So we load Farmville and he clicks semi-randomly to plow the land. Once we hit all the yellowed plots to turn them red/brown, he's ready to sleep (almost falling out of the chair but not wanting to say so). I pour him into bed and turn the lights out. He snoozes well for the first few hours but then get too hot so kick, kick, kick and the covers go flying. We go back and forth with the amount of cover so he does not suddenly chill but does not sweat either. We finally hit a happy medium of comfort, all this while he is still really asleep.
In the early morning, it's wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, stretch, roll both ways to see that, yes, he's still in with Aunt and Uncle and it's morning. We did it! Full sleepover! We slowly get up, make more bubbles, eat, etc. He has a full day and falls asleep on the sofa in the evening. He knows it's time to take him back home but he sleeps until it's totally dark. "Maybe if I sleep long enough, I'll get to stay for tonight too???"
Well, maybe next time as Mom wants him home. So we finally put sleepy head into the car and back home he goes. Exhausted but still very happy as he finally got his independent sleepover. Growing up so fast.
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