Sunday School

So this was the weekend I decided to take Meredith to Sunday School for the first time. There is a 2-3 year old class and now that she is a ripe 2 years and 2 months, figured it was time. She was pretty stand-offish for the most part (I stayed the whole time) and tried to leave several times, heading to the door saying 'Home'. I think she was probably the youngest one there and the 3 year olds that are getting close to 4 definitely ruled the roost since they have been coming for quite a while now. She was quite intrigued by the gluestick during the craft and I didn't think she was paying attention at all (we made a picture of our family), but later she explained the whole thing to mom, pointing to each of our little cutouts and saying 'Mommy, Daddy and Mio'. She definitely like the mini muffins for snack and washing hands at the little sink also ranked up there. She stayed very close to me most of the time, but I think she really like it overall and we will make our best effort to get back regularly.

I had somewhat planned to do Sunday School and then just go to the beginning of service and leave after the children's visit, knowing that it would be a long morning and there was no way she'd sit through church too. She was very restless through the beginning of the service (gotta love those Lutherans who sing ALL the verses to a 6 verse hymn), but I kept thinking, only a few more minutes. So we finally go up to the front for the children's visit and Pastor Larry is telling this nice story about families and bringing in the emporer penguins and how they take care of their eggs... I lost it from here because Meredith decides she is going to walk away from the rest of the kids and she is bringing another little girl with her that she has played with before. I'm debating, do I just let her go? She isn't really bothering anyone. But then she just got too far away, and is also pulling this other little girl by the hand, so I tried to nicely direct her back toward the group and she starts hollering in protest. Then I pick her up, instantly deciding that it was time to leave. She proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs all the way from the front of the church to the back where the usher is kindly holding the door wide open for me to take this screaming kicking child out (he did give me the semi-understanding smile). Yes, I was the one with that child. The one that everyone was thinking, 'can't she control her child?' Yep, that's me. It's not that I care what people think all that much, but it's that I care and I want my child to behave in public, not to mention in front of an entire congregation. She continued to throw a fit as we got into the narthex to leave and she wanted to go down the hall to the water fountain. So, she laid on the floor giving me this smug look, like 'just try to make me leave woman'. Let's just say that we left without going to the water fountain. The screaming continued all the way to the car...it was a lovely serene morning in the neighborhood and her scream cut right through it. Let's say that I said many prayers for patience on the drive home.

Otherwise, we had a good weekend. Mom kept Meredith Friday night so that Chris and I could go out to dinner. We just went to On the Border at Triangle Town, did a little shopping and then a few drinks. Sunday after the church fiasco, we had a really nice lunch at Mom's. It was nice enough outside that we were able to enjoy their great deck. While we were there my sister Hillary said it perfectly while watching Meredith protest against who knows what...I lose track. She said "there is no denying that your daughter has an amazing personality". Yes, I must agree that at 2 years old, she has some pretty clear ideas on what she does and does not want to do and expresses those feelings freely. I can't wait until she's a teenager...Lord help me!