The Tales of John

This weekend we went to Pueblo, Colorado for a PALS meeting.  I can never remember was PALS stands for so I had to look it up-Post-seminary Applied Learning and Support.  Pretty much, it is a group of people that get together, families in tow, and spend a couple of days doing Bible studies and talking about church life.

While John was a bit of a pistol, he managed to do a few funny/cute things.

1.  We went to the hotel first to check-in and John badly wanted to get out of his car seat so I took him in with me.  We got to the front desk where there were two women standing behind the counter.  One of the ladies asked my name to which John replied, "Hello ladies, my name is John William Fiene and I'm (hums a bit of the Superman theme song and then sings) Superman."  Of course these ladies thought he was just the cutest thing and while I somehow managed to check into my room, I'm not sure they ever even looked at me again.  John had all of the attention.  I think he takes after his Grandpa Fiene.

He managed to be a complete pill for the rest of the afternoon and early evening.

2.  When the church members began to serve dinner, John, who had been asking for chocolate for about three hours, was eager to eat.  He ate about three bites of spaghetti then asked for chocolate.  I told him he needed to finish his spaghetti first and he said, "OK, Mommy, I'll be right back."  He went into the kitchen and found a man that had that 'I'll give you anything you want' grandpa look and asked him for chocolate.  The poor unsuspecting man had no idea that this was a trap and said "You want chocolate, huh?"  And John quickly responded "Oh, yes, yes, thank you, thank you".  Then came back to me and said that he, pointing to the nice man, said John could have chocolate now.  We spent the next few minutes talking about what he would get next time he tried that little trick :)

3.  After dinner the men stayed at the church for more talk and everyone else went back to the hotel to put the kids to bed.  I had my hands full with diaper bags, camera bags, kids, keys, etc...  A very nice couple had mercy on me and held the door open for me and John and then John, of course, introduced himself.  Did I mention that John has yet to meet a stranger?  The couple rode the elevator up with us and happened to be staying on our floor and, in that short elevator ride, John had managed to ask this couple 5 million questions, all of which they were happy to answer...thankfully.  When we passed by their door, the man said "Goodnight John, it was nice to meet you." John looked confused and then said "Nice to meet you, do you want to come to our room?"  The man laughed and said he needed to sleep in his own room, but John wouldn't give up.  "Do you want to come in my room and have a party and watch SpongeBob?"  This time the man's wife answered John and told him they would see him later.  John accepted the answer and said "OK, do you want to have breakfast tomorrow?"  They both laughed and told him they would see him in the morning.  We did not see them at breakfast this morning, but thankfully John forgot.

OK, last one...
After we got in our room it was late and I really needed to get the boys to bed.  John would not allow himself to sit still for more than two seconds for fear he would fall asleep and Gus was just overtired and wanted to be held.  I tried putting him in his hammock, which he hasn't been in since July, and he looked at me like I was crazy.  I didn't realize how much Gus had grown, but the hammock was a little short for him and there was no extra wiggle room.  I figured if I could just get him to fall asleep in my arms I could place him in the hammock and he would be fine.  Thankfully I was right, but I had a hard time getting him to sleep while John was bouncing off the walls.  I was trying very hard to be considerate of our neighbors, as John was running up and body slamming the walls, and keep myself calm so Gus could fall asleep in my arms.  Gus had just fallen asleep and John was jumping on the bed and I told him to just lay down and close his eyes.  John just looks at me and says....get ready for this 'cause it's gonna break your heart.  It did mine.

"Mommy, can you stop being so mad at me?"

I felt so bad.  He had just been testing the limits the whole day and probably felt like he was getting yelled at all day.  I told him I wasn't mad at him and laid next to him after I put Gus down, and as I expected, my head had not even hit the pillow and my active 3 year old was out like a light.

He can't just smile at the camera

I love this picture, but I'm pretty sure he is planning his next move.