Monday, August 20, 2007

Reverence.....& a 2 Year Old

Yesterday, the Sabbath Day. A day of rest, peaceful contemplation, wrestling?

As I have mentioned before, our ward starts at 1pm...Connor & Abi's nap time. The last few Sunday's, conveniently, Connor has fallen asleep on the way to church. We've been able to carry him into the chapel and lay him down on the bench where he has slept through the entire meeting. This left Todd and I to sit and listen to the speakers. Abi usually falls asleep as well (in this totally cute position that I will write about on her blog).

This last Sunday Todd was speaking. I am always anxious to listen to Todd. He has such a good way with words, has a nice speaking voice and takes lots and lots of time preparing and researching his topic, so you know you are going to be spiritually edified.

Sister Choi (this incredible mommy in the ward that always takes Abi) came and sat by me and took Abi...good thing too, Abi was having a really hard time falling asleep and needed some coaxing. So she took Abi out and rocked her to sleep while I stayed to watch Connor...hoping that he would fall asleep. It didn't happen on the way to church, I was certain it would happen eventually.

The sacrament came, Connor still wasn't asleep and he was beginning to get restless...and irreverent. The first speaker had their turn...don't ask me what it was about, I was trying to KINDLY remind Connor to be quiet, fold his arms, think about the temple. I tried letting him color, play with his truck, look at pictures. None of it worked. He was so wiggly and wanted to either climb over the benches or roll around on the floor. Neither of which I thought was appropriate, so with his back arched and moaning, I carried him out.

Remember, I am 7 months pregnant. Carrying a little boy (who weighs over 35 pounds) out of the chapel without him kicking or hitting someone with his flailing arms is quite a feat.

We got outside and I tried to just sit with him on a bench. But come on...our courtyard (which is just outside of the chapel) is a child's jungle dream. I was having contractions and was not in the mood to tackle him and make him sit next to me on the bench. So I did the complete opposite of what I should have done, and let him run around. This meant that I missed my Toddy's talk (lots of people came up to me afterwards complimenting him...WHY DID I HAVE TO MISS IT? AUGH!) and an incredible musical number by this group of men from our ward (I heard a tidbit of it...think of Boys 2 Men singing "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet").

Ironic, then, that Angie should call me this afternoon to talk about her calling and asking if I had any suggestions or ideas on how to keep kids reverent during Sacrament Meeting (she's in charge of an enrichment night where they are going to discuss this very topic). I am the last person to get ideas from...I am failing when it comes to this.

However, she then proceeded to give me tons of great ideas and told me her method on how she and Adam have helped Tyson to be a little more quiet during Sacrament Meeting. She also sent me a link that had the GREATEST quotes, thoughts, suggestions and ideas for this frustrating hour of my week. So with that...I will share the link with you:

http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/quiet_toys.asp

If any of you have tips, or suggestions (or stories that might make me feel better)...PLEASE...share them with me

2 comments:

Angie said...

Wow, you give me way to much credit. But it is a very good website!!!

Mia said...

No great tips from me. We have to do an early nap on sundays to keep Ethan from being overtired and cranky, but it doesn't always work. And then when he is in a good mood, I end up with loud discussions about using the potty during the sacrament. So hard to shush him when he is so excited about it (and I can't stop laughing.)