This has been a hard week. My precious child has become the most mischievous two year old.
(yes, that is a leaf stuck in her hair)
I could handle the dipping my deodorant into the toilet, the painting of the bathroom with my concealer, the mixing up the DVDs for the umpteenth time, getting in and using up my favorite perfume, and even the constant destruction of newspaper ads all over the house. Then Sunday came. We ran late making it to church, but I will say she looked adorable in one of her seasonal dresses. I dropped her off at nursery and she went right in (big sigh of relief there), and I went to my meetings until it was time to pick her up so that we could head into Sacrament Meeting (we have Relief Society, Sunday School and then Sacrament last – sorry, Mormon lingo). Sacrament is the most reverent of our meetings. It doesn’t help my plight that I know our Bishop is making a big push for reverence (and he should, but people understand 2 year olds, right?). She has to be one of the absolute worst behaved in that meeting. It’s like the light switches and you see the Dr. Jekyll come out. She knows how to be quiet. She can do it just fine at home, but there she loves to talk as loud as she can and when I try to get her to be quiet she starts screaming and flailing around. I know it will help when Andrew gets home and we can have a tag team. She must sense my fear (of her bad behavior) and plays on it. I think she also knows she has me cornered in the meeting – sooooo hard! So today, I just couldn’t take it. I left after the Sacrament and didn’t stay for the rest of the meeting. While we were going outside to get into the car someone was getting out of a car next to mine. I let go of her hand for a second and she takes off. Those who know where my church is, you know it sits off quite the busy road – well, she starts running straight towards it – only she’s in the grassy/pine straw area and I’m in high heels running after her (not too easy, let me tell you and she is FAST!!!). I finally got her to turn in the other direction (so not heading towards the oncoming traffic) and somehow managed to get her into the car. By this time I am angry, upset, embarrassed (did it have to happen right in front of the foyer so anyone could see – not to mention so all the drivers on the busy road see this crazy momma running after a two year old Lightning McQueen), and tired so needless to say I started to do the ugly cry and I felt a little better (especially after I was able to talk to my mom and Andrew). Days like today I just don’t even want to make the effort to go to church.
Next Sunday I’m going to go to church with my parents so I can get some much needed assistance. But to all the mothers out there that are so much better than me – how do you do it? I thought I was well armed and prepared – I have snacks and water, a magna doodle, and a small bag full of books including church books. I have tried to talk to her in whispers and ask her to use her quiet voice. I have tried to talk to her about Jesus and how He wants us to listen and how that makes Him happy. I don’t want to get into the habit of taking her out of the meeting because I don’t want her to use that when she wants to go, but I don’t want to cause irreverence in the Chapel either. I’ve even threatened that I will tell Santa Claus. So far nothing is working. I know a small part has to be because she misses her daddy (so do I!), but she was progressively getting worse even while we were in Maine and luckily there everyone thought she was so endearing because she was the only child in the branch.
So HELP! Do you have any wonderful advice on how to get my child to behave so I can enjoy going to a much needed spiritual rejuvenation?
