bob's birthday sleepover

Bob did not want a party this year.  He is turning 11 tomorrow, so he told me he is too old for parties. (Can you imagine thinking that 11 is old?)  He just wanted to have a few boys over for a sleepover.  He invited 2 boys from his grade and 2 from SJ's grade (all good friends of his).  To his good fortune, all 4 boys were able to attend.  The boys started arriving between 6 and 7 last night.  After all the boys arrived, they started playing in the basement.  One of the boys brought his IPod Touch, so he plugged it into our sound system.  They were having a great time dancing to the music.  They were also doing typical boy things like wrestling, throwing balls at each other, playing darts and playing knee hockey. 

After a short while, the boys ate the pizza (SJ was in his glory...such a treat to have pizza!) and then we sang to Bob.  He didn't want a cake.  He wanted a cookie cake from our local grocery store.  The boys had their slice of cookie cake and then Bob opened his presents.  My husband thought the boys should watch a movie, so he put on Son of Flubber. Of course, none of the boys had ever heard of it.  He kept assuring them that it was funny.  Since they are preteens, they kept acting like an old black and white movie couldn't be funny.  He started fast forwarding to the funny scenes.  SJ was laughing, but the other boys were trying hard not to laugh.  Eventually, they gave in and were laughing as much as SJ.  After that activity, they were back down in the basement.  The music was playing full blast and then they started to leap over the hockey nets.  They thought it would be a good idea to make videos of themselves doing this.  (I guess they could have been making videos of worse things.) 

Around 9 p.m., we had the boys come upstairs to watch a movie (they chose Despicable Me).  SJ was so excited.  He was offering popcorn to the boys and he would occasionally dance when the "minions" did something funny in the movie.  After that movie was over, they all got their pajamas on and got their sleeping bags ready.  We gave them a "midnight" snack (it was actually 10:30) and they selected another movie.  This time they chose Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakel.  A couple of the boys passed out shortly before it was over.  When it ended at 12:15 a.m., I told the boys it was time to go to sleep.  Not one of the boys who were still awake fought me and they were all out by 12:30 a.m. 

They slowly started waking up between 7:30 and 8:00.  I had my husband run out to get donuts and bacon.  While they were eating breakfast, one of the boys asked me why SJ was acting crazy during the first movie.  I told him matter-of-factly that it was because he had Autism.  I asked him if he knew what that was.  He said he did know someone with it.  He then asked me if that is why he can't have cheese (we made an exception with the pizza for the party).  I said, "Yes.  When he eats too much dairy, he has a hard time controlling himself." He said, "Okay" and then shrugged his shoulders.  I am glad he asked why SJ acts like that sometimes.  I would hate for one of Bob's friends to just think SJ is weird.

After breakfast, they had about an hour to play before their parents picked them up.  After the last one left, Bob, SJ, my husband and I were exhausted.  We were exhausted from all the fun the boys had and that is a great reason to be tired.  Happy Birthday Bob!