Something a couple weeks ago made the boys start talking about having a slumber party, just us family. We all agreed we’d try it Saturday night. I rented WALL-E for the occasion.

After both boys had their baths, and were in their PJs, we all went around the house collected all the pillows and blankets we own. I pulled some down out of the closets that even Cowgrit had forgotten we had. While we parents prepared for bed time, the boys set about arranging the blankets and pillows on the floor in the den, in front of the television.

We all settled down on the floor and turned on the movie. We had miscalculated the time the movie would finish, so the boys ended up staying up an hour later than their normal 8:00 bed time. It was a good movie, and all of us enjoyed it, especially being cuddled up together on the floor among the pillows and blankets.

Finally, with the TV off, the lights out, and everyone tucked in, we tried to go to sleep. Cowgrit couldn’t get comfortable on the floor and so moved to the sofa. I was fine on the floor, so I stayed. Calfgrit8 was fine, and tired, and got quiet almost immediately. Calfgrit4, however, was excited to be doing something different — not in his bed.

CG4 talked and talked, moderately quietly, and held his hands up in the air playing. . . something. After a few minutes, Cowgrit took her pillows and blanket from the sofa and went to our bed. She’d never make it camping (and she has no desire to try it).

Eventually, after almost 30 minutes of talking and hand jiving, CG4 fell asleep. I got up and went to my office computer for a little while. Then I went back to the den and laid down again. I fell asleep pretty soon thereafter.

Although I could fall asleep on the floor, turns out I can’t sleep very long there. I woke up many times in the night, uncomfortable. But I was so tired, it never dawned on me to move up to the sofa for the rest of the night. I ended up just tossing and turning all night.

And speaking of tossing and turning: Calfgrit4 sleeps all over the place. With no bed to give him boundaries, that kid rolled and slid everywhere in the room. At one point that I saw him, he had pushed about three feet headward from where he started out in the blankets. At another point, he was perpendicular, forming the center line of an H between CG8 and myself. Early in the morning when Cowgrit came into the den to check on us, she couldn’t see him buried under his blankets.

The next morning, the boys were happy for the excitement of the “slumber party.” I, however, paid the price of aches and pains for lying on the hard floor all night. I hadn’t got good sleep for all the tossing and turning (my own and CG4’s), and my body felt like I’d gone four rounds with . . . whoever the current boxing champ is. I had to pop a bunch of ibuprofen to be mobile all day. Next time, I’m taking the couch.

But all in all, it was a lot of fun. The boys want to do it again, regularly, and we’ve discussed doing it once a month or so. This could be a cool family tradition.

Bullgrit

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