Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Survivor 2004 - The First Sleepover
Can I take back my "happy day!" salutation to the end of school? Because this means your kid is with you ALL SUMMER LONG. And what does summer mean but sleepovers? Last night, being the first night of summer (Andy was in school yesterday, watching "Haunted Mansion" and commenting on the swear words he heard,) it was time for a sleepover. And I DO mean the first sleepover EVER, as Andy's room is now CLEAN enough for any other Mom to say it's ok. Only Andy picked the wrong kid to sleep over.
Kid comes to the house with a rolling backpack (good sense so he won't throw out his 10-year-old back.) And inside is an evil Playstation 2, which Andy happily asks me to connect to the behemoth professional monitor-in-the-living-room-that-has-never-been-connected-to-a-video-game. And it won't on my watch, Andy has never had a TV video game (he's got a computer, for cryin' out loud.) So, Andy throws a temper tantrum, then thinks, "well what about the little TV (that we use on long trips to keep him from looking out the window.)" So, I acquiesce (which is a word that means I'm a sucker,) and they connect the little TV to the console.
Five minutes later his friend wants to log onto Andy's computer. Apparently, this is his attention span length, because that lasted about ten minutes (bonus time, I guess.) Then it was to the Gameboy, while Andy filled up on cartoon mayhem through the courtesy of Sony. Then it was time for bed (10 pm for those clock-watchers out there.) Video game disconnected (and TV removed to my room,) and two good boys tucked in for the night. And that is when I also attempted to go to sleep.
My parental bent is to leave both bedroom doors open, ostenibly to hear my son choking on a piece of gum while he is asleep, or something like that. I was then unprepared and kept awake by two giggling boys for an hour and a half. Oh and by the way, the air was punctuated with my voice also, saying "Go to sleep" and other succinct phrases. Finally, Andy came into the room and told me that his friend was keeping him awake. I told him that it was likely both of you keeping him awake by responding to him. And when I entered his room, I found his friend packing up his stuff to leave.
Remember that he is ten-years-old? I asked him who was home, and he said no one. So, being the paranoid, responsible parent I am, I told him that I won't let him go to an empty house. So, he takes out his cell phone (not really his, but his mom's) and calls a bunch of people but not his mother. It is now a quarter to twelve. And when asked why he won't call his mother, he is afraid she'll be mad. Because his mother is elsewhere and took the night out with her son presumably safely sleeping in a neighbor's house. Hey, I'd do that too. But then, the boy tells me that he can't sleep over anyone's house, he just doesn't sleep. I really thought it had something to do with the two cans of Coke he drank at Andy's baseball game earlier. But I digress.
The Mom comes on the phone and tells me she will be here in a half hour. It is now twelve-thirty, and I can't see beyond my nose, I am so tired, and my voice sounds like it has a gravel truck running back and forth in it. The boy sits in the living room, alternately falling asleep and waking up (and I think to myself, why can't he just do this upstairs? Andy is completely asleep now.) The mom comes and takes her son, and I tumble into bed at 1 am.
The last stupid thing I did was to tell the mom that the boy is welcome to sleep over at any time. I kicked myself and almost fell down the stairs while on my way to my bed.
It's going to be a long summer.
UPDATE: 2:27 pm Andy calls me to sleep over his friend's house (yes, THIS one.) As is customary, I call the Mom, and it turns out she will be out tonight; and wasn't asked by her kid about the sleepover, so the answer is NO. Bed time, on time tonight.
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Kid comes to the house with a rolling backpack (good sense so he won't throw out his 10-year-old back.) And inside is an evil Playstation 2, which Andy happily asks me to connect to the behemoth professional monitor-in-the-living-room-that-has-never-been-connected-to-a-video-game. And it won't on my watch, Andy has never had a TV video game (he's got a computer, for cryin' out loud.) So, Andy throws a temper tantrum, then thinks, "well what about the little TV (that we use on long trips to keep him from looking out the window.)" So, I acquiesce (which is a word that means I'm a sucker,) and they connect the little TV to the console.
Five minutes later his friend wants to log onto Andy's computer. Apparently, this is his attention span length, because that lasted about ten minutes (bonus time, I guess.) Then it was to the Gameboy, while Andy filled up on cartoon mayhem through the courtesy of Sony. Then it was time for bed (10 pm for those clock-watchers out there.) Video game disconnected (and TV removed to my room,) and two good boys tucked in for the night. And that is when I also attempted to go to sleep.
My parental bent is to leave both bedroom doors open, ostenibly to hear my son choking on a piece of gum while he is asleep, or something like that. I was then unprepared and kept awake by two giggling boys for an hour and a half. Oh and by the way, the air was punctuated with my voice also, saying "Go to sleep" and other succinct phrases. Finally, Andy came into the room and told me that his friend was keeping him awake. I told him that it was likely both of you keeping him awake by responding to him. And when I entered his room, I found his friend packing up his stuff to leave.
Remember that he is ten-years-old? I asked him who was home, and he said no one. So, being the paranoid, responsible parent I am, I told him that I won't let him go to an empty house. So, he takes out his cell phone (not really his, but his mom's) and calls a bunch of people but not his mother. It is now a quarter to twelve. And when asked why he won't call his mother, he is afraid she'll be mad. Because his mother is elsewhere and took the night out with her son presumably safely sleeping in a neighbor's house. Hey, I'd do that too. But then, the boy tells me that he can't sleep over anyone's house, he just doesn't sleep. I really thought it had something to do with the two cans of Coke he drank at Andy's baseball game earlier. But I digress.
The Mom comes on the phone and tells me she will be here in a half hour. It is now twelve-thirty, and I can't see beyond my nose, I am so tired, and my voice sounds like it has a gravel truck running back and forth in it. The boy sits in the living room, alternately falling asleep and waking up (and I think to myself, why can't he just do this upstairs? Andy is completely asleep now.) The mom comes and takes her son, and I tumble into bed at 1 am.
The last stupid thing I did was to tell the mom that the boy is welcome to sleep over at any time. I kicked myself and almost fell down the stairs while on my way to my bed.
It's going to be a long summer.
UPDATE: 2:27 pm Andy calls me to sleep over his friend's house (yes, THIS one.) As is customary, I call the Mom, and it turns out she will be out tonight; and wasn't asked by her kid about the sleepover, so the answer is NO. Bed time, on time tonight.
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