Well, that was a bust.

I write this from my parents' house. Julia had a great time during the movie watching portion of the sleepover. She had an even better time during the play with Aunt Ali's books, iPod, vases, lotion, make-up, and memory card portion of the sleepover. It was the sleeping portion of the sleepover that didn't go over so well.

She laid down for about ten minutes (chattering the whole time) and then popped up, hopped down from the bed, and declared, "I want to go home now." What followed was a two-hour siege in which she alternately screamed to be allowed to go home, and played with my books, iPod, vases, lotion, make-up, and memory card while screaming to be allowed to go home. I felt like a prison warden, and finally around 1:30 AM, I relented and drove her home. And let me tell you, she was so tired (she actually said to me, "Aunt Ali, I'm so tired.") but she fought to stay awake during the ride because she didn't trust that I was actually taking her home.

Then when I got her home, I put her in the guest room with me since everyone else was asleep, but she woke up and would not believe me that I had brought her home. I had to turn on a light to show her where she was and that only resulted in her crying to go to sleep in her room. She was terribly specific for a dead-tired two-year-old at 2AM. So I had no choice but to take her in to Jen and declare the whole experiment an utter failure.

I was kind of afraid Jules wouldn't be talking to me this morning, but she's apparently harboring no ill will and is excited to come back and watch movies at my house. However, she's made it very clear that she will not be sleeping there.