Sleepover Evolution

The tranquility and beauty of Friday night was followed by the mayhem that ensues when 3 boys are together in an 836 square foot apartment.

Tanner had a sleepover with his two oldest and bestest friends: Johnny and Brendan. I absolutely love having these two over - they are such great boys and they all have so much fun together.

But times, they are a'changing.

It's been awhile since we've had a sleepover, and some subtle changes have taken place in the interim. For one thing, appetites have increased. Those boys plowed through 2 large pizzas and a double batch of pancakes, plus half a package of bacon. My vision of leftovers for lunch went straight into their growing bellies.

I took them roller skating, which was like time travelling back to my pre-teens. Everything about the roller rink was exactly the same as when I was 12. Well, everything but the music. Red, Red Wine  and Ice Ice Baby has been replaced with Bad Romance and Teenage Dream. But the same creepy, velvet-voiced DJ was at the mic, spinning the records and announcing games and birthdays and warning people not to skate too fast. He announced Tanner's birthday, which made his whole year, I think.

We were barely 30 minutes into the session before the flirting began. Johnny, the oldest at 11, has become a bit girl crazy. There was lots of drama about who gave who a high five, and who pushed who down on purpose, and should brendan and tanner tell that girl johnny wants to couple skate with her? They would careen by me, slamming into the wall to stop, and give me the latest on who was afraid to talk to which girl. There was lots of arguing and punching and blushing denials of hand-holding, and it was weird.

They are growing up.

Back at home, they were more like the boys I know and love. They were gross and smelly and fought over video game controllers just like they always have. And they slept in a pile, like they always have. Only this time, everyone kept their clothes on the entire time - even to sleep. Usually, they are stripped down to their boxers 15 minutes after walking through the door. I guess they're too old for that now.

I can't decide how I feel about these changes. Part of me misses those little boys who wanted me to play with them and talked about Pokemon instead of girls. The boys who drank from cups with lids and went to bed at 9:30 thinking they were getting to stay up super late. But I also like watching them grow up and evolve into who they're going to become. It's interesting, and fun, and definitely keeps me on my toes.