spynotes ::
  February 12, 2006
The Sleepover

Last night the boys went camping downstairs in the living room. AJ, after seeing Little Bear have a sleepover, has been hankering for one of his own, so we decided on a trial run, which had the added advantage of male bonding for them and a free quiet evening for me.

Earlier in the day, AJ received a package from my parents for Valentine�s Day. We told him he had to wait until Tuesday to open it, which was killing him, but when we called my mom and dad to tell them it had arrived, it seemed like a good idea to open it while we were on the phone with them. It contained a notepad shaped like the head of a tiger with the word �meow� protruding from its mouth � clearly a thoroughly domesticated tiger. It also contained the world�s most adorable stuffed dragon whose name did my musicologist�s heart good � Fafner. Perhaps I�ll have an opportunity to introduce AJ to the Ring cycle one of these days.

Fafner came with a long letter from my mother, who quite fell in love with the little dragon herself. She told AJ a bit of the dragon�s personal history (due to an unfortunate incident in his early childhood, which is too horrible to mention, he is terrified of fire), and advice on his care and feeding (his favorite foods are cucumbers and ice cream, which help him keep cool inside � AJ said, �Hey, those are my favorite foods too!� She�s no slouch, my mother.). She also mentioned in the letter that the dragon did not know any math but maybe AJ could teach him some, because she thought the dragon would like to learn about it.

AJ read the letter over twice and took it to heart. He requested cucumbers and ice cream on the menu at dinner and dutifully pretended to feed the little guy while simultaneously drilling him on addition and subtraction by counting the noodles in his bowl.

After dinner, he took his dragon and his tiger notebook and, with some apparent input from the dragon, made a list of all the things he needed for the sleepover. The list read:

1. Scary stories
2. flashlight
3. booklight
4. two sleeping bags
5. dragon
6. my guys and b. [AJ�s guys are his stuffed caterpillar, Rub-a-tubby the fish, and his fuzzy pillow. The b, he informed me, stood for blankie.]

I read AJ some stories about sleepovers and ended with one that was just scary enough (Where the Wild Things Are), which we can all recite by heart so we can ignore the worlds and look closely at the wonderful pictures of Max in his wolf suit and his merry band of monsters. After I said good night, AJ and my husband read a couple of more stories by flashlight before one of them dropped off to sleep and the other escaped to watch basketball with the sound off.

Meanwhile, I was curled up in bed with a pile of books that I mostly ignored in favor of watching the Olympics. It was a decadent evening that should have been relaxing, except that nothing is very relaxing for me at the moment. When AJ woke up at 4:15 to go back to his real bed, it woke me up and, feeling panicky about the general state of affairs that is my work life, I didn�t fall asleep again until after 6.

AJ was very excited to tell me about his big sleepover this morning. �I woke up and wanted to sleep in my own bed but when I woke up before and I was lying on the floor I could see the moon. And I read my book with my flashlight. And my pillow was too flat but I liked it anyway.�

4 people said it like they meant it

 
:: last :: next :: random :: newest :: archives ::
:: :: profile :: notes :: g-book :: email ::
::rings/links :: 100 things :: design :: host ::

(c) 2003-2007 harri3tspy

<< chicago blogs >>