We arrived a few minutes late and quietly dragged ourselves to an open seat which happened to be on the 2nd row. As soon as I sat down, I saw the entire Stake Presidency sitting on the stand right in front of us. Ward Conference!
Also as soon as we sat down, Abe starting his constant "I am hungry" speech. During the sacrament he burst out laughing at Maxwell. Hannah kept asking me how to spell things like "brush my teeth" to go along with all her drawings. No spelling during church!!
Then Max spit up all down the inside of my sleeve and all down my shirt. Once he was handed over to Jimmy, Abe tried sitting on my lap, only his shoe scraped my ankle causing intense pain. Then Abe had to go potty so Jimmy took him out. Then Abe was thirsty so I gave him a mint to moisten his mouth.
Because, of course, nobody else was crazy enough to sit on the 2nd or 1st row in front of the Stake Presidency, our row was empty. Abe saw this as an opportunity to practice his track skills and ran to the end and back, but not quite within reach of me. As soon as I caught him, I had to practically drag my stubborn 42 lb, almost 4 year old son, out the door, just as the Stake President was talking about how special and sweet children are. Abe was sooooo in trouble and was held tightly in the foyer on his mother's lap until the end of the meeting.
Primary.
Abe knew he had been naughty and he was sure hanging his head low. Right before Primary started I thought I'd go talk to him. I told him I loved him but that he needed to remember to choose the right. After he calms down, he always feels so sad about being naughty, so then he totally started crying.
So here I am trying to be a loving mother and forgive Abe, and Abe bursts into tears alarming the entire Primary presidency (because of course a member of the Stake presidency and entire Stake Primary presidency is in the room). Then Jimmy comes over wondering what in the world I did to Abe.
Then the Primary President puts Abe up front because of course he is giving the scripture (which of course I forgot to practice with him). So I gave him a thumbs up as he dried his tears. I helped him say the scripture and he did such a cute job trying to pronounce the big words. He was happy again but then kept falling off his chair - because of course Sunbeams can't quite stay in their chairs.
Ay, Ay, Ay! What is a mother to do? Well, next week I'm letting Jimmy sit by Abe in sacrament meeting. That's for sure. And if we are on time to church, we can find a nice relatively low-key seat that is not front and center.
And other lessons learned - um, not sure. I'm still trying to figure out how to survive sacrament meeting with kids. Some weeks and months are splendid and the kids are quiet and do great. Today was not that day!
We really do feed Abe before church - at least we try to. The problem is that whenever Abe gets bored, he thinks he is hungry. But he doesn't like to draw or color and I don't let him bring cars to church because then they get driven all over the bench and people. And we all know that running in circles (such a boy thing!) is just not appropriate for church. Sigh...
Why am I mentioning all this, you might ask. I'm not trying to prove how wacky we all are - though that is true. I'm not trying to get sympathy or complain - because I know every young family deals with things like this. I think I just need to mention it so that someday when this stage has passed, I will need to be reminded of the struggles young families have.... so I don't have a glorified memory of my parenting skills and my children's behavior. I want to be able to understand others and not judge other young mom's whose kids are acting up.
Elder Ballard said:
"Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction."I'm off to feed the barnlings who are quite starving so that we can perhaps have some shining moments of joy later on today. We can always hope!
7 comments:
Today I realized that Sacrament meeting is the longest hour and 10 minutes of my week. I try to stay in the chapel as long as possible, but every week we end up out in the hall. I've been a hall walker at church way too much in the past 4 years. I am looking forward to the day when I can sit and listen without any distractions. I'm glad I'm not the only one struggling with my kids at church.
I agree with Jan...sacrament meeting IS the longest hour and 10 minutes! Sometimes I wonder why we even go...I know why we do but it is difficult with little ones. Good news though: It seems that since Braden turned 7 things have been looking up. Especially since he gets baptized this year, he is always trying to be good. It's a good incentive!
Oh my how I sympathize... although I must brag that my kids were AMAZINNNNNGGGG today. I'd love to take credit, but it may have just been a strange day. Though our FHE on Monday was about staying reverent in Sacrament Mtg and I had them "practice". We also went over it Saturday night. I am hoping that was helpful. I actually was about to do a blog on keeping kids quiet during sacrament mtg... My home teacher wants me to write a book... in spanish... for new latin members. anyhoo... I came across an article by Orson Scott Card about how to keep kids reverent during sacrament, and we are trying his method. I want to put it on my blog--I need your help to figure out how to do that. Come to my house this week, please and help me! :) And we can talk more about this.
Sorry about the long comment everyone!
We spoke yesterday and it was a little stressful...so I was laughing when I read this post.
I really enjoyed this post because I thought you were perfect! But really, who doesn't have a Sunday, or two (or fifty), like this? You're such a great mom and a wonderful example to me. Just so you know. *B
I am so laughing. I love how you describe it all. It sounds so familiar! All mothers have been in your shoes. I think the people who arrive at church first should sit on the front rows, don't you?!
One Sunday our Bishop stood up and made a comment on how the children were noisy. We all thought, "Oh dear," but then he commended all the parents and said we really need to keep our children in sacrament meeting, whether they are noisy or not, because that is where we all need to be together as a family. We all felt so much better after he said that. Not as an excuse to let our kids be noisy, but that it's okay and we don't need to spend all our meetings in the hallway. We just need to endure and hopefully one day our children will catch on and be reverent and learn that sacrament meeting is a time for us all to sit together. I loved that he said that.
Oh, and Kyler is the same way about boredom and food. It drives me insane some days! He's always mooching around in the fridge or pantry when I know his belly has got to be FULL!!! These silly boys.
Love ya Heath!
Your Sundays sound a lot like mine too. My kids start asking for something to eat immediately after we sit down in Sacrament meeting. I don't get it. About the only time I really get anything out of Sacrament meeting is when I go to the mothers room to feed Beckham and I can listen over the speakers. I think Sundays are one of my hardest days.
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