Church is dumb.

Anyone in attendance at our church yesterday would have been able to tell you that it was not a good day to be an Anju. The morning started off well enough, but only a few minutes into the service there was trouble. She had 3 crayons with her to do her children's bulletin, and 3 toddler-sized princess dolls to play with. During the opening hymn she said, "Mama!" and when I turned to look at her, she looked me in the eye and snapped a crayon in half. She gave me the "whatcha gonna do" look, and grabbed a second crayon and snapped it in half. I gave her a glare, kept on singing, and took the third crayon from her area of the pew before she could break it and stuck it in the hymnal rack.

That action was apparently the toddler equivalent of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, because the war was on. She insisted I not pray. She tried to unfold my hands and open my eyes manually. I told her people were trying to listen to Daddy, so she needed to be quiet. She said loudly, "Daddy is dumb. Church is dumb." She asked to get taken out to the utility room where I take her when she is (loudly) misbehaving.

Eventually, she ended up there simply because Shawn couldn't top her volume from the pulpit. Once in the small room with the water softener and vacuum cleaner, she had an all out tantrum because I didn't agree that praying was dumb. After awhile, she calmed down and whispered that she would be quiet and wanted to go back to church. I opened the door, and she ran back to our pew, found the princess dolls on the floor and started kicking them saying loudly that princesses are dumb.

Today, she came to me a bit after lunch and said her tummy was sleepy and wanted to go to "its crib and go na-nite with its blankie". So, she is in bed and fell asleep almost instantly. I'm wondering if that lost hour has anything to do with it, or just a day in the life of being two?

Great timing!

Just when your toddler becomes 90% potty trained, and you've made the final push to try to get rid of as many processed/junky food as possible from your diet, this will arrive in the mail (on the same day):

$50 in free A&W gift certificates won in a drawing,

and a package of diapers sent by a survey company

in exchange for evaluating the product.

Very Much

When it is time for Anju's afternoon nap, I grab her blankie and wrap her up in it, and I carry her upstairs. On the way, she usually says something like, "When Andu wake up, Nona Sobay be home." Probably, because that's how I convinced her to nap--she would be so anxious for them to be home starting about noon (and they don't get home until 4:30) that when she would fight her nap, I would remind her that the napping would make Solveig and Jonah come home quicker.

So, yesterday is Saturday. I carry her upstairs for nap time, and she says, "When Andu wake up.......". I can tell she's thinking. Solveig and Jonah are downstairs, not at school. ".....Andu's Daddy will be home," she says. Yes, he's in his office. Good save!

I tuck her in and say, "Yes, Daddy will be home. Daddy loves you very much, doesn't he?" And she replies, "Jesus loves me, too!" "Yes, he does," I tell her and start to leave the room. "Very much," says Anju. "Yes, very much," I tell her.

The following excerpt from Solveig's musical comes with full commentary:

Cast and crew of "Dig It!"

March 2 was Solveig's musical. They performed it in the high school auditorium, and did a wonderful job for a group of 4-6 graders, many of whom had never been in a play before. The lighting/sound crew was also 4-6 graders, so it was a great experience for those on and off stage alike.

Solveig plays "Tut" on the right. She and her partner are archaeologists

who discover a skeleton who teaches them all about various ancient civilizations

(Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, China, etc).

I ended up having a full lap, however. I had one camera to record the musical. I had one camera to try to sneak some stills. (I've gotten all right over the years holding a camcorder/camera in one hand taking video and taking stills with the camera in my other hand. I would have fit in well in Japan- must be genetic, huh Mom and Dad?) This event also involved having a lap full of toddler. She refused to sit with her dad who had a wide, open lap and nothing whatsoever in his hands. Since I wanted the video to stay relatively still and not make the viewer vomit, and I wanted the stills to involve the children AND their heads, giving him the electronic equipment didn't make much sense. (If you've seen any of our South Dakota trip video of the buffalo at Custer State Park, you'll agree that Shawn should stay FAR away from video cameras.)

So, I found myself with a camera in each hand and a babbling Anju in my lap asking for snacks, water, and books, and all the things toddlers ask you for when you want them to be quiet. Apparently, she only knows how to whisper when handed the phone to say hi to her grandparents, because at public events where people are trying to hear something--say church or a MUSICAL- the concept of a hushed tone is a completely foreign concept to her. No matter how I describe the volume I'm asking for (whisper, quiet voice, baby voice, tiny words) she gives me a blank stare and speaks even louder.

Enjoy the excerpt from Solveig's musical! Anju sure did!