The Tales of John

John is learning how to be respectful.  For some reason it is a lot harder to be respectful to his parents than it is to be in church.  I guess I would rather him be more respectful in church than at home.  Both boys just love their dad and run to see him when we get to church on Sunday mornings.  It is a good thing we get there early enough for them to see him before he vests or you would see two boys running towards the altar to give their father a hug in the middle of the opening hymn.  One Sunday morning John was following Hans around doing pre-service duties and was apparently being pretty loud.  Hans had warned him a few times to keep quiet, but John still had to be pulled into the office. Unaware of what was going on all I heard was John saying, "But, I want to be respectful.  I will be respectful.  Let me be respectful."

For those of you who attend church with small children or remember attending church with your small children you know it isn't an easy task.  It also becomes infinitely harder when there is only one parent with two hands.  John has been sitting through church for over a year now with no problems.  It took a long time to get to this point and he still can be distracted...he is only 4.  Gus is now reaching the age that he needs to be taken out every now and then.  This is really only because he loves his dad so much that it hurts him to see his father, but not be able to go to him.  If Hans gets too close it sets off a fit in Gus and I have to take him out until he calms down.  The times when I have to leave John has wanted to stay.  So, John stays sitting in the front row.  This actually surprised me and made me extremely proud.  He loves participating even more than he loves playing in the nursery.  It is helpful to only have one kid going through the 'I don't have to sit still or be quiet' phase at one time.

As I said earlier, John can get distracted.  Lately, there has been a four year old little girl that has come to sit with us every week.  They usually arrive after the service has begun and she manages to wiggle away from her grandmother and sit next to John.  I love that there is another kid at church, but this has proven to be very difficult for John.  The two can get to playing and get loud.  After the first week of her sitting with us, I had a talk with John and told him that he still needed to be good in church.  The next week he told the little girl, "We have to behave in church, that means no talking and screaming."  When she didn't calm down John came and sat between me and the end of the pew.  She was upset by this and started throwing a fit to which John replied, "I'm not getting in trouble for you."  I am unbelievably proud that my 4 year old not only listens but wants to behave and be respectful in church.  He knows there is plenty of time to play with her after church.  While he may not make the same decision every week I am extremely happy in the choices he made this week.