We arranged yesterday to let the kids have their very first sleepover, or as James called it, a "sleep out". David and Taryn agreed that "What better FIRST sleepover than with their cousins?", so we packed our overnight gear (planning to sleep on the couch) and headed over for dinner. The kids ate and played and stayed up a little late (but not too late, surprisingly), then Uncle Davey followed his usual bedtime routine and our kids (mostly) fell in line.
Cora and Addy snuggled in with her LeapPad.
Eli and James snuggled in with Uncle Davey to read a chapter from their current bedtime story, then promptly passed out (after a short delay due to mama forgetting to pack James' lovie, a dinosaur that used to belong to Jay and has the job of keeping James' nightmares away). These boys are golden.
The girls were a much different story, of course... They were up and down a few times, asking to "hang out", going potty, getting scared of "too much stuff" in the room, etc. And just when we thought they were settling down, we heard screams and looked at the monitor in time to see them looking like they were having a cat fight, then tearing off the bed in search of adults. Our best guess is that Addy fell asleep, startled herself awake (or Cora woke her up), and freaked out about having someone in her bed (she doesn't share her bed ever, unlike Cora, who often sleeps with mama and daddy or James or whichever grandparent is visiting). At that point (after 1-1.5 hours of fighting them and all of us getting more than a bit frustrated), we suggested to each other that maybe we should separate them and Addy overheard the idea to put her in David and Taryn's bed, and it was over - she calmed down and made a beeline for their room. So I lay with Cora until she chilled out while they got Addy to fall asleep. After some fun drinking IPA's and playing Cards Against Humanity, we called it a night around midnight and I retreated to Addy's bed with Cora while Jay slept on the couch. I suppose a 50% success rate isn't bad for our first sleepover. And better to go through initiation with family, who have to love us no matter how difficult our kids are, eh? Eh?! It was fun guys and we should absolutely do it again. James is of course asking over and over to go to Eli's house for another sleep out!
