The Deck Sleepover

My daughter and her friend, Keira, decided to have a sleepover tonight.   Keira is one of our "backyard neighbors" because while their house isn't next door directly, our back yards connect, and it since most of the playing takes place in the back yard, it seems like we're next door to them.    Given the state of the infectious world right now, the only playing that's being done is outside at social distancing range, which means our back yard is the location our children usually go when they're sick of being inside and want to spend time with children their ages. 

Keira and my daughter came up with an idea that they could have a sleepover if they did so outside.   They thought it through and had a few options.   They didn't want to be outside where they would be exposed which narrowed down their choices to two locations: Keira's screened-in back deck or our deck that has no access other than through the house. 

They would have gone for the better choice of Keira's deck but painters had come today to do some work on and there was wet paint.   That left our deck.   Keira and my daughter met in our back yard after dark and my husband set up the fire pit for s'mores.   Afterward, the ladies hung around the fire pit for a while and then retired to the deck. 

Once they were settled in on opposite sides of the small deck, I went to wash my hair.   As I was about to head downstairs to write this post I heard Keira leaving to go home.   We're going to put my daughter up to bed in a little bit in case it starts to rain.   I'm sure there will be many more sleepovers in the future.   I'm proud of the girls for coming up with a safe way to have one while also maintaining social distances.

The Big Boy Update:  My son has been making his own lunches, but his motivation has been to get through the process as quickly as possible and hasn't been making the best of choices and then isn't eating the better parts of his lunch at school.   Today, I took over his lunch making and am going to supervise him for the next while so he can both make his lunch quickly and make good food choices. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Keira went home from the sleepover a bit ago but my daughter is out cold on the deck.   She is so very independent in some ways and this is one of them.   Nothing stops her if it's something she really wants.