Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Sleepover Blues
Poor Owen. Poor Jack. Owen was supposed to sleepover at his best friend Jack's house on the first Friday of the March Break. The problem was that Jack and his sister got really sick so it got postphoned. Then, we tried to do it on the Sunday, but by then Owen was getting sick so he had to come home after dinner. Jack was very upset by this as he had been looking forward to it for quite a while.
Fast forward one week to this past Monday, and I decided to let Owen sleep over on Monday night (as he doesn't go to school on Tuesdays anyways). He went over for dinner, and later that night (aka at bedtime) changed his mind. He seemed to be suffering from some kind of anxiety about sleeping over. This seemed weird, as he has slept over there before and we have known this family for several years. It is the first time he has slept over in the past six months due to their huge renovation project, and it was the first time he was going to get to sleep in Jack's new bedroom.
Basically Jack totally flipped out and cried/screamed for a very long time after I had come to pick Owen up. We have been trying to figure out what it was that Owen had a problem with. In fact, he had slept over during the March break at another friend's house that we don't even know very well. When I asked him why it was ok there, he said "they have a golden retriever".
I am thinking the next time we try this, I will plan to stay for the evening socializing (we do that there often anyway) and then hope that Owen will fall asleep while I am there. I am just worried that Jack can't handle the possibility that Owen won't follow through. I tried to talk to Jack about it yesterday to see if he could understand that it wasn't personal. In the light of day he does seem to get it, but at night when it happens he totally can't. *Sigh*
Fast forward one week to this past Monday, and I decided to let Owen sleep over on Monday night (as he doesn't go to school on Tuesdays anyways). He went over for dinner, and later that night (aka at bedtime) changed his mind. He seemed to be suffering from some kind of anxiety about sleeping over. This seemed weird, as he has slept over there before and we have known this family for several years. It is the first time he has slept over in the past six months due to their huge renovation project, and it was the first time he was going to get to sleep in Jack's new bedroom.
Basically Jack totally flipped out and cried/screamed for a very long time after I had come to pick Owen up. We have been trying to figure out what it was that Owen had a problem with. In fact, he had slept over during the March break at another friend's house that we don't even know very well. When I asked him why it was ok there, he said "they have a golden retriever".
I am thinking the next time we try this, I will plan to stay for the evening socializing (we do that there often anyway) and then hope that Owen will fall asleep while I am there. I am just worried that Jack can't handle the possibility that Owen won't follow through. I tried to talk to Jack about it yesterday to see if he could understand that it wasn't personal. In the light of day he does seem to get it, but at night when it happens he totally can't. *Sigh*
