Bedtime Stories...

When Derek was in 3rd grade and had just turned 8, we allowed him to have a friend stay overnight for the first time. Honestly, I don't remember too much about that initial Sleepover, except that the boys giggled and wrestled so late into the night that I wondered why they don't just call them "Stay-up-as-long-as-you-can-overs." (Too wordy, perhaps? But so much more accurate!) At this point, a few years later, Derek is a seasoned Sleepover veteran, having both attended and hosted dozens of them. Now Riley, always watching his older brother and consequently suffering a severe case of Monkey See, Monkey-Want-To-Do, recently requested his own Sleepover Playdate. And, although he just finished 2nd grade, we decided without much debate to let him go ahead and invite someone over. (I attribute this lenience to what I call Second Child Syndrome, which can be summed up as follows: "Eh, it didn't kill us the first time, so why not?!") Happily for all concerned, he chose a pre-approved classmate/soccer teammate that we have known for a while and already like!

On the appointed day, Riley's buddy Jay arrived with a bulging backpack, a gigantic grin, and a heaping helping of enthusiasm. The boys wasted no time, but plowed right into the day's activities--shooting soccer goals in the backyard, swimming at the neighborhood pool, and yes, giggling and wrestling. When they had run around sufficiently to expend their daily surplus of energy, I set all 3 of them up in front of the TV with pizza and Pirates of the Caribbean. For a while, Captain Jack Sparrow had them whooping it up with his onscreen antics. But suddenly, during a lull in the action, I happened to glance over and see Jay, fast asleep with one arm tucked inside his t-shirt. (To be fair, it was the outrageous hour of...9:15!) Riley seemed stunned...his designated Late Night Partner in Crime turned out to be more of the Early-to-Bed, Early-to-Rise kind of guy. Neither the nautical battles nor the hollering ruffians in the movie disturbed Jay's peaceful slumber, and when the flick ended, Husband carried him to bed and deposited him gently onto his air mattress. (His mother had called at approximately 9:16 and asked to say goodnight to her son...but we had to inform her that sadly, Riley appeared to have broken him. She laughingly assured us that this was typical behavior for Jay--whew! We didn't wreck him after all!)

In contrast, let's review the events of the last time Derek had a friend over. The shenanigans commenced with a heated, strategical Nerf battle that spanned the entire house, and had to be shut down for safety reasons (let's just say a Cease Fire Treaty was enforced by the Prime Mom-ister...ha!) Then a spirited Wii session of Lego Rock Band began, highlighted by a truly horrendous, off-key rendition of The Final Countdown. (by Derek's friend Brian--whose falsetto could melt your eardrums, and who screeches, I believe, just to irritate me as much as humanly possible!) Next we were treated to thumping and bumping from Derek's room that brought to mind, oh, I don't know, maybe elephants tap dancing? It turned out to be an impromptu basketball game...after they were supposed to be settling down for bed. At this juncture, I found it necessary to resort to the most dire threat I could levy on 11-year olds: "If you don't go to sleep, there will be no video games tomorrow!" Yep, that's the last I heard of them until breakfast the next day...

But at least that was better than what I hear happened at Derek's most recent Sleepover, which fortunately did NOT happen here. When the Prodigal Son dragged his exhausted self back through the door the next morning, yawning and struggling to put one foot in front of the other, we demanded the gritty details. And--bless his heart--our full-disclosure-guy immediately came clean (or was it "boasted"?) about his evening's entertainment. Let's see, after the planned and supervised portion of the festivities (a Birthday Outing to a forest-adventure-ziplining venue, followed by an End-of-the-School-Year picnic), our intrepid young men helped themselves to leftover steak and mashed potatoes at 10:30 p.m. (after the parents had gone to bed--who can blame them?) Then, according to our reporter, they were "bored" at midnight...so they made ice cream sundaes...and watched funny videos on YouTube!

I think the lesson here is exceedingly clear: Jay can come over anytime he wants...and Derek is never leaving the house after dark again!