A Raving Success

Last night X-man had his first sleep over. Bubba came over at 6 p.m. I wasn't nervous about playing, because they have a blast lately every time they're together. It's not often, but it's definite quality time. There were no arguments at all. When X-man got too pushy playing, Bubba used his big boy words and X-man changed his behavior and they kept playing. When Bubba wanted to calm down and watch a movie, X-man immediately asked him what he wanted to watch and then told me that because Bubba was the guest we could watch his favorite movie first.

The best part was that Bubba and X-man got to learn how their bedtime routines and eating routines were different. And as they learned about each other, I'd hear words from X-man like, "Here we read books, then brush our teeth, then we get to play for a few minutes, then mommy tucks us in and we can color in our beds or look at books until we fall asleep. Is that okay, Bubba?"

And Bubba would say, "Okay, sounds good to me." The only adjustment was that X-man sleeps with half of his room lit up because of his fear of the dark. And Bubba couldn't sleep with all the lights. :-) So we compromised, and they were both content.

If Bubba wasn't so sure about something -- like our brand of toothpaste, he and I would negotiate. Finally he liked the idea of brushing just with water. :-) No funny tastes that way.

I was also so proud of Bubba to be able to fall asleep in a strange place, on a strange air mattress in X-man's room. That's a big deal to me. At my first sleepover, I got scared and the dad had to drive me home at 1 a.m. And with kids this young, I expect that at some time that will happen. But Bubba was a total trooper.

Right now it's 12:20, Bubba went home about two and a half hours ago. And X-man just said, "Mom, I miss Bubba. It was nice to have a good friend to play with all day."

So, my guess is, we'll be doing this again sometime soon. :-)