Sundays

Oh the challenge of Sundays. . .

First to focus on the positive- we get a day with Ben, we get to go to church and worship and feel renewed, life moves a little slower on Sundays.

Seriously though, church with our 14 month old son is a challenge. He normally goes down for his morning nap at 9, right when church starts. Do you think he just naps there in our arms? Rarely. Meaning almost never. During sacrament he really likes to hit things on the metal chairs and make a really loud noise. I'm longing for those padded benches and carpet you have in a normal church building. And then when he's really fussy we can go stand outside on the balcony with him, which is usually extremely hot. I have a great appreciation for the foyer now and I'm sorely missing it.

Yesterday Chase fell asleep during the last few minutes of Sacrament. Ben carefully moved into Sunday school without waking Chase and we enjoyed 15 minutes of the lesson before Chase woke up, angry at only getting a 25 minute nap. Ben took him out and came back without him. Ben informed me that he left him in nursery. Ahem, Ben, babies have to be 18 months to go to nursery. Ben said they didn't mind, and neither did Chase, so he just left him there. I'm a rule follower by nature, so I let him stay for Sunday School but went down and got him for the third hour. He spent the entire third hour running back and forth through the curtain that separates Relief Society and Priesthood. Each time he'd run through the curtain with his arms in the air, as if saying, "I've arrived!" Basically he managed to be an interruption and distraction to both Relief Society and Elders Quorum. We are officially those parents who let their kid wander and be a little distracting, because we know that trying to contain him will only cause more fussiness and screaming and will probably be more distracting.

Basically I've noticed that I have to work pretty hard at church- work hard to keep Chase contained and somewhat quiet, and work hard to try to pay attention enough to get something out the lessons and talks. After venting to my mom yesterday about how hard church is with a toddler, she reassured me that this will continue to be a challenge for at least the next ten years. Yay- something to look forward to.

As hard and frustrating as life with a baby can be at times, he sure is worth it! He's doing the cutest things these days, including folding his arms for the beginning of prayers (like the first 2 seconds before he gets distracted by something else) and helping put things away. He melts my heart!

He is so busy and into everything, but really he's been like that since the minute he was mobile last summer! That last picture just cracks me up. He loves playing with his blocks and that little green rake is now a favorite (one of the beach toys from a previous post). Also, on Saturday he got ahold of the little syringe that goes with his infant ibuprofen. He was fascinated by it. He played with it for 45 minutes straight. Maybe he's showing medical aspirations? I tried bringing it to church in hopes that it would make church a little easier. It did not. He just wanted to bang the syringe on the metal chairs. Plan failed. Maybe I'll come up with something more successful for next week.