12:34 May 1

Last night, Tobin went to his first sleepover. He was very excited to be spending the evening, night and morning with his friend Oskar--who was celebrating his tenth birthday--and another school friend of theirs. They would visit an indoor trampoline park, eat pizza and cake, watch a movie and do a few other Percy Jackson-themed activities. Matt and I were excited for him. I was also a tad nervous, since he occasionally has trouble sleeping, and this was the first time he'd slept somewhere other than home without his siblings.

Indeed his brother and sister were themselves a bit unsettled when Tobin wasn't around at bedtime. We decided to make the night fun for them and allow Lauren to sleep on Ev's bottom bunk and Ev, on Tobin's top bunk. Lala slept great, but Evan had a nightmare and ended up in our bed. When I kicked him out of our bed around 7am for being fidgety and obviously awake for the day, he went to Lauren's bed and snuggled with her. Lala said they told knock-knock jokes like this--undoubtedly a Lala original:

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Chicken.
Chicken who?
CHICKEN POOPED ON YOU!

As I set out blueberry muffins for Evan and Lauren's breakfast, Lauren exclaimed, "But what about Tobin?!?" I reminded her that he was still at Oskar's. She asked, "How is he gonna have breakfast?" I explained that he would eat breakfast over there. About an hour later, I brought Tobin home, happily wearing his homemade Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and necklace, and chatting about the fun he had. We found out he had waffles and cantaloupe for breakfast.

I tell this story with gratitude for the closeness of my little family. While the kids certainly argue and annoy each other while they're together, they definitely seemed to miss each other when apart--even if just for a one-night sleepover. I'm also grateful for their friends and the inspiration to do fun, brave, new things . . . even if Tobin said maybe next time he'd prefer his friends sleep over at his house.