Monday, March 22, 2010

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?

5 comments:

The Stums said...

Oh my word. That was funny. The kind of funny that comes from reading other people's kid stories, I mean. Anju had enough, I'd say. Good thing her tummy got the rest it needed. ;)

Last week Dosen woke up from his nap just in time to get dressed for Sunday evening church. When Jake told him where we were going, he said, "Again??!! That's enough church today!"

S. and Company said...

Hi Amy,
I was so entertained reading your last few posts! Hehe!

At our house I've been finding it interesting that Haddie has suddenly hit her "terrible -two's" ... almost a year late. ;o)

My mom was just asking me about adoptions from India today - so I had fun telling her about you guys and Anju.

Oh, one last bit - and totally random... did you know that there are "Anju" pears? I saw the sticker on a pear we were washing recently. Maybe it had an extra e on it, I don't remember... anyways. :o)

Take Care!

Mark and Wendy said...

Oh, the perils of being a pastor's wife while trying to get the pastor's kids to behave! I feel your pain, even though I'm laughing at Anju's antics!

Anonymous said...

Well, somebodies got to be "dumb", at least it wasn't you Amy, LOL! Very cute story!

Aaron Tague said...

I hope that your older members saw that as entertaining???? Well, I feel for you. Having experienced many similar experiences with Nisha, I know to expect anything and to be prepared for the ultimate embarrassment :) My, Anju is becoming quite verbal and expressive. I guess that would be an answer to prayer?

Praying that this week went a little better?