H away!

So, in the interest of getting a whole summer’s worth of fun into the last few weeks, my 6 year old daughter H had her first sleepover last weekend.  She invited one of her “BFF”s (her term, not mine) and we had a Friday night slumber party. 

We picked H’s friend up about 4:00 p.m. and drove straight to the opening night of Smurfs at the movies.  We had time for dinner, so the three of us went to Pizza Ranch before the movie.  After the movie, they wanted to go shopping! I wanted to go to bed.  Luckily, the stores were closed, so it was home we went. 

Once we got home, they were still raring to go, so play, play, play…trash the room it took H all day to clean up…by 10:00 I was beat.  They were still wild, so…in the movie went and they fell asleep, FINALLY, to Tangled at about 11:30. 

The next morning, they were wide awake and wild again. Here I had been hoping for them crashed until 10, having stayed up so late, but NO – 7:30 and homemade chocolate chip muffins. They played, taunting B then running screaming from him for about an hour before we finally took H’s friend home.   H was sad to see her leave.

This was a big eye opener for me.  I had never really seen H in her own element, before.  What I mean by that is, I’ve never seen her being “social” except while playing.  On the hour drives to and from the theater, she and A sat in the back seat and talked the entire time!  I kept thinking – what can two 6 year olds have to talk about?! But they did, they chatted it up just like I would with my girlfriends.  It made me laugh-and kind of made me sad at the same time. 

My baby isn’t just mine anymore.  She has a life – out there in the world – friends and interests beyond me and our family.  She was a “real” person.  I’ve already been through the trauma of realizing that B is a “real” person – with his own personality, thoughts, etc.  But H, I’ve been trying to hold on to, denying that she was grown up enough.  She is…she’s a real person, now.  My baby is really gone.  But I really look forward to getting to know my daughter as she continues to mature. So far, she’s pretty cool!  I think I am in for quite a ride!


Christine