Under the Table and Screaming

Last night was a night of humiliation.  I call it "The Night of the Toddler."

It was also Thanksgiving supper at church.

Yeah.

Looking back, it's easy to see our mistakes.  Oh so easy and bittersweet...

Our boys were too tired.  We had been in Jackson most of the day, and they had short, short naps.  And they are not short nappers!

AND supper was in the gym.  Our 2 1/2 year old has only ever been in the gym to play.  So maybe telling him, "We're eating in the gym" wasn't so brilliant on my part. 

He's also never had to sit and listen to someone talk before.  Oh, and be quiet.  That concept has not quite entered his brain.

So when the speaker was speaking and singing, Thing One was laughing hysterically and rolling on the floor.  Of the gym.  With everyone staring.  And shooting us DIRTY looks.

I seriously considered sliding down my aluminum chair and crawling under the table.  Especially when Thing Two spit his paci down there and started to wail.  Sigh.

Shawn took Thing One out and had a long talk with him.  Yeah.  Long talks don't work with 2 year olds.  They came back in, and Thing One ran around and around.  I didn't know he laughed that loud until we were in a room full of silent people.  Staring at us.

After the supper was over, I handed off Thing Two to our all-too-willing preacher's wife and scooped up a grumpy yet energetic Thing One.  I explained to him that NOW was the time to play and had him look around at the other kids...running and laughing hysterically WHILE NO ONE WAS SPEAKING.

Then I told him he had to tell the speaker he was sorry for being too loud.  When we got to him, Thing One was so embarrassed.  He wouldn't even speak.  Luckily, the speaker has kids and was very gracious. 

I spent a good portion of the night last night lying in bed and trying to come up with ways to train that boy to sit still and listen.  But in the end, he's 2.  He's not ready for something like that yet.  He can sit for short periods of time...if he's entertained...but I think we just expected too much of him last night.


We certainly learned a HUGE lesson last night...at the expense of our church family.  :(  The fault lies in us, not in Thing One.  Next time, we will know better!

 

 

They are sitll really stinking cute, though!