"I don't wanna to", "I don't haffa to", "mmm, maybe not", and "no" have become large parts of the K-boy's vocabulary. I'm all for him learning how to make his own decisions, but it'd be nice to go for an hour without hearing the aforementioned phrases.
Worse than those, though, is "I do it myself". This actually means, "I don't want to do it but I will raise holy hell if you try to do it for me." It is used for everything from flushing the toilet to dressing to shutting the refrigerator door. Usually I indulge him with a count of three and a warning that if he doesn't do it, I will, but some things, like strapping him in his car seat, are non-negotiable. I will have to credit him with an unexpectedly high level of sophistication when it comes to stalling. It may make me nuts, but it's pretty impressive.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Church and kids
After a foot of snow and blizzard winds, we're finally digging out. Bob's on call so I'm not sure we'll make it to church tomorrow, but I hope we can give it a try. I've been Catholic my whole life, although there was a period in my mid-twenties where my attendance was a bit, ahem, lax. Bob is also Catholic and we've always gone to church together.
Before I had my own children, I liked seeing other people bring their kids to church. I looked forward to the day that I would sit in the pew with my adorable little bunch and they would sit quietly with their books or colors, or maybe even fall asleep in my arms.
I'm still dreaming. Kevin would start screaming as soon as we had to sit for more than 10 seconds. I didn't make it through a whole service sitting in the pew until he was 8 or 9 months old, except for the service when the elderly gentleman next to us said to Kevin, "I'll give you a dollar if you stay this quiet the whole time." Kevin earned his first dollar that day! He's gotten much better although his little voice carries with pronoucements of, "It's Father Yinn!" or "Holy Spirit!" I suppose I should be glad that it's "Holy Spirit" and not "holy something else". He loves to take his money up to put it in the collection basket and usually comes back without intervention. Kevin calls church "Amen", as in "We're going to Amen today." It's sweet and he's charmed just about everyone who sits near us.
The girls are starting out better, but there's two of them to make noise, which they do very well. They seem to take turns squawking, but I'm sure that to others it just seems like somebody's always crying! It's nice when we go out to church with my mom because, having grown up in that church, people know me and I'm never lacking for people to hold a baby in a pinch. A few have even said that they're happy to see young children there:)
Before I had my own children, I liked seeing other people bring their kids to church. I looked forward to the day that I would sit in the pew with my adorable little bunch and they would sit quietly with their books or colors, or maybe even fall asleep in my arms.
I'm still dreaming. Kevin would start screaming as soon as we had to sit for more than 10 seconds. I didn't make it through a whole service sitting in the pew until he was 8 or 9 months old, except for the service when the elderly gentleman next to us said to Kevin, "I'll give you a dollar if you stay this quiet the whole time." Kevin earned his first dollar that day! He's gotten much better although his little voice carries with pronoucements of, "It's Father Yinn!" or "Holy Spirit!" I suppose I should be glad that it's "Holy Spirit" and not "holy something else". He loves to take his money up to put it in the collection basket and usually comes back without intervention. Kevin calls church "Amen", as in "We're going to Amen today." It's sweet and he's charmed just about everyone who sits near us.
The girls are starting out better, but there's two of them to make noise, which they do very well. They seem to take turns squawking, but I'm sure that to others it just seems like somebody's always crying! It's nice when we go out to church with my mom because, having grown up in that church, people know me and I'm never lacking for people to hold a baby in a pinch. A few have even said that they're happy to see young children there:)
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