How'd You Sleep?

Our Littlest Angel
(c) Erika Fish

It's summertime here and the kid's want to have sleepovers. Which in my mind means extra kids in the house making extra messes, eating extra food, leaving extra wet bathing suits on the floors, and taking over the TV room. Bet you can't tell that I don't like sleepovers. I can barely handle my own two kids, let alone extras who may or may not annoy me. 



Our kids have actually stopped asking to have sleepovers at our house. I'm happy to ship my own two off to some other family, but my kids usually know what I'm going to say about another kid staying here. I haven't changed my position on this since 2005 when our son was in Kindergarten. Neither kid sleeps well, we don't have an extra bed so someone has to sleep on the floor, and I'm always afraid the unfamiliar child will wake me up at 1:00 AM and ask to go home. 

I want to be an easy-going, fun mom who encourages play dates and sleepovers. I have dreams of baking batches of cookies for afternoon snacks, s'more making in the evening accompanied by fun songs by the firepit, and making delicious waffles with whipped cream smiley faces for breakfast. But that's just not me. 

(I'll bake the cookies, but they have to last through breakfast the next day. S'mores are just too sticky and I don't want any kid feeling "too sugary" before bed. I know how to make waffles, but rarely have un-expired buttermilk on hand.) 

Idea for Time-out Corner at Home
(c) Erika Fish

When other kids are at our house, I'm a basket of nerves, frenetically moving around the house. I can't calm down enough to even find the chocolate chips, let alone bake cookies or turn on the fire. And if they're all in the swimming pool, then I can't get anything accomplished. I should probably hire a neighbor kid to be the lifeguard so the neighborhood doesn't have to listen to me screaming at the kids. Or get a whistle on a cord -- one that I can twirl around my hand a la the cool lifeguards.

Pool Fun with Buster
(c) Erika Fish

Another crazy aspect of this whole one-more-kid-might-push-me-over-the-edge deal is that our sweet 2-year old Golden Retriever, Buster, loves the water. If he sees anyone in a bathing suit, he goes bananas. If we leave him in the house when we go out, he jumps and barks and turns into a whirling dervish. If he's really hyped up, we put him in his crate and then he has a tantrum. Yesterday he tried to obey and stay out of the pool, but it required constant re-directing. It's difficult to play with the kids in the pool while keeping one eye on the dog. Maybe I'll put he pool fence back up...

Buster swims with us almost everyday, but when new kids are in the pool, they might not understand how it works. Buster's working when he gets in the water, his focus is on that orange retrieving thing, and if you swim in his path, he may scratch you by accident.


I always thought I was pretty good at hiding my dislike of things like sleepovers, birthday parties, and Van Halen, but my husband recently told me I'm terrible at hiding my disgust. Apparently I have a look that says it all. I'm not judging -- you can have all the sleepovers, Batman birthday parties, and Van Halen CDs you want. Just beware if you ask me to help. 

So if you know my kids and want to have them for a sleepover, just ask, I'm sure they're free. And please don't be offended if I don't return the invitation, it's nothing personal.



(c) Copyright 2010-2016. Erika JN Fish. Car Mama. All Rights Reserved.