Sleepover

Big Boy is at his first official sleep over tonight.  I can’t believe we’ve made it this far in childhood.  It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital, clueless as to what parenthood really was.  Now, he’s big enough to look forward to a Friday night sleepover with his best bud.

As we were eating dinner tonight, I whispered last-minute manner reminders to him.  “Remember to say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you.’”  “If you wake up first, just lie in bed—don’t wake up your buddy.”  “Don’t beg for food.”  He looked over at me with his eyes big and said, “I know, Mom!  I can be a big boy.”

He’s right.  I don’t usually get to see it (although I’d really like to), but his friends’ moms have told me how polite he can be and his teacher has told us that he’s been good at helping out in the classroom.  He really does know all the right things to do to be a big boy.

But the best part is this.  Last night I pulled him aside to help him settle down before dinner and to ask him to be in control of himself (and all the fantastic noises he’s discovered he can make).  As I asked him how he knew what the right thing to do was (“Because you told me, Mom” is what I expected), he answered, “Because I have Jesus in my heart.  I love him a lot.”  I couldn’t help it.  I cried a little bit right there.   What a wonderful thing to say, and such a better answer than what I was hoping for.

So, as I watched him happily load himself into his friends’ car (“They have a Honda, Mom!”), I knew he would be just fine.  He knew what I would say, even before I said it.  “Keep Jesus with you!”