Sleepovers & Secrets

by Cathy

This past weekend, Bella had her 11th birthday party. She was particularly ecstatic because a) we got her a cell phone for her birthday a few days before the party, b) this was the first sleepover party she's hosted at our house and c) well, because she's a kid and it's her birthday party!

So for three days and three nights, we cleaned, vacuumed, prepped the sleepover room/bedroom, shopped and put together goody boxes, climbed ladders to twist purple and green streamers from all corners of her bedroom, hung a puffy, pink pom-pom looking thing from the ceiling fan in our living room, went to Costco and bought pizzas, chips, salsa, snacks, ice cream, chocolate milk, fruit, pancake mix, water, juice boxes and a bajillion other things that apparently we need to have on hand for a birthday sleepover party, organized and decluttered little areas in our house that needed to look more presentable, made sure I had Ferris Bueller's Day Off mailed to our house by Netflix in time, entertained, shuffled, chaperoned and chauffeured seven girls from our home, to the movie theater, to the nail salon and back.

Surprisingly, it all went very smooth, despite the 'You guys are crazy' undertones heard in the voices of the parents dropping off their kids, as they said things like, "Have fuuuuun..."  and "Good luuuuuck.." Luckily, everything turned out much better than we all anticipated. The demeanor, camaraderie and well-behaved manners of the girls were pleasantly surprising. They are, after all, blooming into young ladies and it's amazing to see how their maturity level is growing into that role as well.

After all of the shuffling and home activities were completed, the girls were off to the bedroom to claim their stake on the floor and lay out their sleeping bags, blankets, pillows and sweetly enough, even their favorite stuffed animals and pillow pets.

The plan was to get Ari, my five-year old, to sleep with me and Joe in our bed and offer up her bed to one of the girls. But there were two problems here: 1) no one wanted to sleep in the bed ("I never get to sleep on the floor!!" and "It's so much more fun on the floor!") and 2) Ari refused to leave her bed, even though she was beyond exhausted since having awakened at 7am that morning and would never get close to even shutting her eyes in a room brimming over with prepubescent, hormone-charged, high-pitched squealy girls. She desperately still wanted to be a part of what the Big Girls were doing. Thankfully, one of the girls came to her senses and requested the bed after all, which required plenty of coaxing and bribery on my part to get Ari to come into our bedroom.

I scooped her up with her pillow and Mo, her stuffed lamb, and carried her into our room, promising her a cuddly, snuggly time with mommy and papi. Joe greeted her with a sweet, "Hi mommy! You come here and sleep with us tonight, okay?" I tucked her little body in while she clutched PillowMo, slipped under the covers and cozied up right next to her. As I watched Ari doze off next to me, I thought about how Bella was in her room gossiping, sharing secrets, talking about boys, texting other girls in the room on her new phone, and how she was already growing up and away from us. I missed her already.

Exhausted, I started to doze off myself, when I was awakened by a quick kiss and a loudly whispered, "Good night mommy!"
I startled awake and found Bella's face right over mine. I hugged and kissed her goodnight. After about what seemed like another hour and the voices trailing from the girls' room were starting to lose power, I heard the quick, tip-toed shuffling of feet and waited for Bella to turn the corner into our room again. I smiled to myself as she came in.
 "I just want to give you another kiss and a hug before I go to sleep," she said tiredly. I wondered if she had snuck out of the room to do this and I smiled to myself again. I squeezed her tight and gave her another goodnight kiss.
"Thanks for everything mommy. Love you!" she said softly as she ran back to her room.

I fell back asleep, smiling contentedly. No matter how old she is, she will always be my 'lil girl, and that will always be our little secret.

Happy 11th birthday, my 'lil girl!!