Day: January 1, 2009

To all outward appearances bedtime has been quiet. There were stories and then the three younger kids all stayed in their beds. More or less. There were long spans of quiet interspersed only occasionally with whispers or quiet singing or the resounding thumps of a child trying to sneak out of bed. The scene appears quiet. This does not change the fact that 90 minutes after I tucked them into bed, knowing that they are all in dire need of sleep, they were still awake. Add to that the fact that Kiki and I can not watch Dr. Who until we’re sure it will not wake up a younger child or cause them to get out of bed and tantrum because they can’t watch too. Add to that the fact that I’m running on only five hours of sleep and I know I need to get up on time in the morning to begin reasserting the normal schedule, so I need to get to bed on time. This means time is running out for me to watch anything at all. All of this leads me to grouch at the kids and bark ridiculous orders like “Go to sleep!” as if the kids could choose to comply rather than having to lay still in the dark and wait for sleep to come to them. The fault is not theirs. Staying up until 1 am then sleeping until 9 has tweaked their biorhythms. I can’t expect to fix that in a single day.

It has been a good day. It really has. None of the tantrums and conflicts I expected showed up. I’m just tired and I can’t be off duty until they are sleeping.

Today is a day of recovery after a night of revelry. We had about 18 people in our house for more than five hours. Games were played. Food was eaten. Laughter was shared. The party broke up late because we were all having too much fun talking. We need to not wait until New Years to do this again. It was fun. One of the best things for me was how well behaved all of the kids were. I got to enjoy spending time with adults rather than feeling split because the kids upstairs needed me at the same time guests needed attention. I did have to run upstairs frequently, but it was never a problem. All the guests got along well and I think everyone had a great time. A big help in all of this is that the majority of the guests are already good friends with the same interests. We could all laugh at the same jokes.

Kiki joined the party right with the adults. Link sometimes did party stuff and sometimes went upstairs with the other kids. He particularly liked getting to play Rock Band with the grown ups. Gleek and Patch had a party of their own in Gleek’s room. I set up an inflatable mattress across from Gleek’s desk and they watched movies while eating treats. We made them all eat a good dinner before the guests arrived, so there was a complete lack of sugar crashes. Sometimes the kids came down to join the larger party, but mostly they were content upstairs. Just after midnight I came up to make them turn the movies off. They were all asleep within minutes, too tired to even argue about who had the most space on the mattress.

Today is for recovery. There really is not much party clean up. Most of the detritus was swept into the trash very quickly. And the house is still clean and organized. It feels really good to be starting the new year with a clean house. I let all the kids sleep in. They’re still short on sleep, so I’m monitoring closely. I’ve been feeding them at regular intervals and encouraging low-conflict activities like watching movies. It would be good to get them out and moving this afternoon. Mostly we’re just taking today slow and bedtime will be early. Tomorrow begins the process of reasserting a normal schedule so we’re ready for school to start on Monday.

I think that one of the best signs of a good party is that everyone leaves saying “We should do this again soon.” It is an especially good sign if the hosts agree. Howard and I want to throw parties like this one again. It was a fun time.