Mira's first night away from Mommy

Last night, Mira had a sleepover at my parents' house.  Before she left, as she was having a snack, we had this conversation:



I explained to her several times that she was going to play at Grandma and Grandpa's house and then she'd take a bath there and then go to sleep in a bed at Grandma and Grandpa's house and then when she woke up in the morning she would still be there and she could play some more before she came home to see me.  The first time I explained it to her, she just stared at me with her jaw hanging open, looking like she was thinking very hard about this situation.  The second time I explained it to her, she listened and then smiled at the end and nodded "yes".  By the third time I had told her what was going to happen, she was smiling and nodding all the way through and when I asked her at the end if she thought that it might be fun to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa, she responded with an emphatic "Yeah!".

So I actually was fairly certain that she knew what was going to happen and felt comfortable with it.  Which did a lot to convince me that she was ready to have a sleep over without me.  The only thing I worried about at all was that she might have a hard time falling asleep or if she woke up in the night she might be upset about her unfamiliar surroundings.

That evening with her grandparents and aunt, she had a good dinner and made two trips to the park that backs up to my parents' house.  She went to bed a little later than normal, but had no trouble falling asleep on her own.  She slept all the way through the night and woke up at her normal time in the morning.  My mom said that she seemed disoriented when she woke up, but she calmed down fairly quickly and when my mom offered her the option of either going home to see Mommy or going back to the park, Mira chose the park.  Twice.

So Mira came home around lunch time.  She was exhausted from all her playing and hungry because she was too busy having fun to stop for food.  She had a big lunch and is now crashed out in her crib.  While she was eating her lunch, I asked her if she had a fun time with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Katelyn, and she said "yeah".  I asked her if she liked spending the night there and got another "yeah".  So I think she enjoyed herself and would be up for doing it again sometime in the future.  She loves her grandparents and Aunt Katelyn so much.  She asks about them all the time and can't wait to see them again.  I've learned that, when we are going over to their house, I can't tell her more than about 20 minutes in advance because she just can't take the waiting if she knows we will be seeing them.  (Literally, she will stand at the door saying "go go" and if I tell her it's not quite time yet, the tears start welling up in her sad little eyes.  It's the definition of 'heartbreakingly cute'.)

I'm so glad that she loves them so much and feels so comfortable in their care.  Especially since it's likely going to be necessary for her to spend the night with them when I go into labor.  Knowing that she can spend the night with them takes a load off my mind.

As for how Brian and I enjoyed our time off: we had a leisurely dinner out with friends, all hanging out at our house afterward playing games and chatting.  Then in the morning, Brian and I got to sleep in together, getting up whenever we felt like it.  Something we haven't been able to both do together in nearly 2 years.  It was wonderful.  Did I miss Mira?  Actually, not too much.  But I was happy to have her home when she got here.