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All (except appetities)
survive first sleepover crisis
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___We finally broke down. After numerous put-offs and excuses, our 8-year-old boys finally talked us into having friends over for a sleepover.
___ Most kids already have done this, but we were able to postpone the inevitable because until recently neither b
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ALISON WINGFIELD
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oy was willing to go to someone else’s house to spend the night without his twin brother. So, I had told them they couldn’t have anybody over to our house until they got over that reluctance.
___ Part of my procrastination was in knowing that we couldn’t get away with just one friend spending the night. With twin boys inviting one friend each, you automatically have a slumber party of four. Even the most brave parent would approach that prospect with fear and trembling.
___ Things went fairly smoothly. After stuffing them with pizza (except Garrett, who of course had peanut butter) we rented a video and they settled in to watch the new Buzz Lightyear movie. I sneaked away to the living room hoping for some peace and quiet for the next hour. Shortly thereafter, Garrett’s friend walked into the kitchen looking peaked and promptly threw up right where he was standing (poor guy walked right past a bathroom to get to the kitchen, but of course didn’t know it). At least he made it to the linoleum.
___ Change of plans. Mark rushed the friend home, but by that time it was past 9 p.m.--way too late to invite somebody else for Garrett. Crushed, Garrett tried to put a good face on it but I knew he was having a hard time.
___ And then there were the sleeping arrangements. I’m not sure anyone woke up in the same place they fell asleep.
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___I’m just grateful Alison assigned me the task of taking the sick child home. She voluntarily took on the job of cleaning up the floor, although our dog showed a lot of interest in helping also.
___ I did have to keep all the windows rolled d
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MARK WINGFIELD
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own in the car, however, during the perhaps two-minute trip to the other side of our neighborhood.
___ Alison under-reported Garrett’s reaction to this whole episode. While his friend sat pale-faced on a kitchen chair (the legs of which he had recently splattered), Garrett curled up in a corner of the dining room and sobbed uncontrollably. He was devastated that his friend had to leave.
___ As parents, we felt absolutely helpless to solve his crisis--not wanting to hold a vomiting child hostage nor wanting to call some other parent to say, "Your child wasn’t our first choice to come over tonight, but now that we’ve got a vacancy … ."
___ My biggest fear was that we would experience a chain reaction of this interruption in the food chain. Given the kind of pizza place we had patronized--the kind geared toward kids with undiscriminating palates and adults concerned only with lots of pizza for little dough--I feared we had gotten hold of some bad sauce.
___ Everyone else kept their food down, however, and Garrett managed to blend right in with Luke and his friend’s activities with only a few minor altercations.
___ The whole episode reminded us of how hard it is to teach children that some things in life just can’t be controlled. Plan as we may, the need for flexibility remains the only sure thing.
___ You never know when someone’s going to blow their toppings.
Mark Wingfield is managing editor of the Standard. Alison Wingfield is a freelance writer. The Wingfields moved to Texas from Louisville, Ky., where Mark had been editor of the Western Recorder, in which this column appeared weekly. |
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