Ty went to a friend’s house for a sleepover on Sunday night. And when he came home late the next morning, he pretty much headed out to play with another friend down the street, whom he hasn’t played with in months. He seemed fine, so I let him do it. Not like the early days when the day after a sleepover was a complete wash, and the afternoon had to give over to meltdowns and a nap.

At dinner he still seemed fine.

Dinner, as it happens, was the staging ground for another sleepover, this time with a friend of Leah’s at our house. Curt and I watched Ty go into pesky-little-brother mode for R. It’s hard to put a finger on what he does exactly, except to say that he brings up topics he would not normally think of (the topic of who knows how many swear words was this evening’s top choice), and he likes to moderate the conversation. Leah, predictably, gets seriously irritated. I find it all a little amusing, but the fall-out from an irritated older sister is enough for us adults to keep Ty in check.

At Mallard Ice Cream, our after-dinner outing, Ty sat with the girls at one of the tall tables with the round stools. They didn’t seem to mind him hanging around. And when we got home, I let him watch half an hour of a movie with them. (Just for the record, he and I had agreed on this arrangement at Mallard's.) At that point, I said it was time for bed. For him.

He came unglued. “But I want to watch the rest of the moviiiieeeee.” And then, after I explained the arrangement again, “But I’m wiiide awake.”

Uh huh.

The tears began, coursing down his cheeks as he ate his requisite post-dinner, pre-bedtime snack of bread and butter (really salty butter tonight). He sobbed as he glugged down a glass of water. He sobbed as we hiked the stairs. He sobbed as I undressed him, pushing angular, eight-year-old limbs into sleeve and leg ports. He sobbed into his toothpaste. In bed, lying on his back, he sobbed until the tears ran into his ears. “But I’m wiiide awake. Really. I’m wiiide awake. ”

“Goodnight, Ty. I love you.”

Sob.

We didn’t hear from him until the next morning.