The First Sort of Slumber Party

If I had to think back, it was years and years ago that I remember my first slumber party. It was at my next door neighbor’s house when my mom went to the hospital to have my sister. I was 7 years old. I do recall a time before that, sleeping over at someone’s house and watching the movie “The Labyrinth” of all crazy things, but I’m not sure if that would be considered a true sleep over since at least one, if not both of my parents were there. Still, I think I was more like 4 or 5 when that happened. I guess being a child of the 80s, whenever I think of slumber parties, I think of kids being 6-7 at the youngest, more like 9-10 really since that’s when I feel like the big slumber party boom happened in my neck of childhood. So imagine my confusion when I got a text message last Friday morning inviting Emma to a sleep over at her cousin’s house the very next night. 

A million questions ran through my head all at once and when the noise from my befuddled brain finally quieted down I was only left thinking one sad thought, I have never slept apart from Emma before. We’ve never been apart and I’m not sure that either one of us are ready to let go of that yet. I knew even before that revelation manifested, that a not quite potty trained 2 year old wouldn’t make it through the night in an unfamiliar setting. In fact, there have only been three times ever that she has not slept in her own bed (two different week long vacations and one weekend trip.) And let me tell you, actually getting her to sleep away from home is a nightmare that will haunt my parenting dreams forever. Don’t get me wrong, it was a ridiculously generous offer for this mother, my sister-in-law, to be taking on 5 girls under 5 but I just could not bring myself to leave Emma there between the lack of potty training and knowing how she reacts to an unfamiliar bed. So instead, I went with her for the earlier festivities. 

Of course my anxiety ridden mind played out ever negative scenario that could have happened but instead of her rolling around on the ground screaming because she didn’t get to color purse she wanted or throwing toys all over the place, she actually followed along with the older girls and engaged in the activities. She really enjoyed herself! She shared while playing with bubbles, she sat on the floor and colored her mask (yes later she did break it after being told not to wave it around). She sat and ate pizza and popcorn and watched a movie. She laughed and jumped and giggled and genuinely had a good time. She even almost played dress up but as soon as I got the fluffy tutu on her she informed me that she had pooped her pants (great). She also lost interest during the purse decorating but still, all in all, she had a great time. I was really surprised how well she went with the flow. 

So I don’t leave you in suspense, even though she was doing well, we did not sleep over. We did leave at the VERY big girl time of 10pm which is later than any of us have been out for a looooong time. Looking back, she might have gotten upset if I left her alone there but for the next sleepover, I might actually leave for a bit and see how it goes. I know 2 is still way too young but who knows, with the girls of the new Millennium, 3 might just be the right sleepover age.