My Sunday

Oh, what a Sunday! I had a very love/strongly dislike relationship with Ethan today!! It alternated between good and bad....

GOOD
- I walked out of the bathroom after getting ready for church wearing a white flowy skirt, white top w/ silver flower design and green cardigan. Ethan took one look at me and said, "Mommy, you look beautiful!!" as he gave me a "leg hug". Cute, right?

BAD
- He had an oreo mouth from lunch and had his mouth open while he hugged me, leaving a ring of oreo drool on my white skirt. Nice.

GOOD
- Sean had to conduct the music in sacrament meeting so we got to church early!

BAD, no... really BAD
- Ethan was a holy living terror the majority of sacrament meeting. He's not normally perfect during sacrament meeting, but not too bad either. Today was a different story. He was tired to begin with [the joys of 1pm church I tell ya!] but refused to sit and do anything that we had brought for him in his church bag. Then he kept kicking his legs all around and laying down on the bench and not whispering, etc. etc. Ay-yi-yi!! Finally, just before the sacrament prayer, as I'm trying to get him to settle down, he yells out, "I don't want to say the prayer!" Well, that was it for this mama! With gritted teeth I carried him out of that chapel so fast it would make your head spin. Little butthead!! We sat in the foyer all through the passing of the sacrament and through much of the first talk. Most of the time he was still fighting with me. We walked around a little. I tried talking with him and reminded him that his books, snack, etc. were all back in the chapel and then asked if there was something wrong. Nothing was helping. Finally, after more struggling and walking around, I talked to him again and reminded him of good church behavior: whispering, sitting nicely, folding arms during the prayer, etc. He agreed and we went back in. Yeah, the good behavior did not last long. Just when I was about to really lose it [dang near on the verge of tears] a friend sitting behind us offered a quiet activity book that immediately grabbed his attention. FINALLY!! He looked through it a few times and then very politely returned it. She offered a different one and that pretty much kept his interested the remaining portion of sacrament. [insert loooong sigh of relief........]

GOOD
In the midst of the battle with Ethan, once we were back in the chapel and while the finally speaker was talking, Ethan turned to me and said, "make our homes like a temple?" Exactly what the speaker had just said! You're kidding me... you were listening?! Unbelievable.

BAD
When church was over and we were getting ready to leave, Ethan was in the primary room with me drawing on the chalkboard. It was time to go, so I told him to put the eraser back and we'd go. He continued to draw, so I told him again. He started to walk toward me, still with the eraser in his hand. When I told him, again, to put it back he threw it at my leg! Grrr... Skating on thin ice this kid was!

GOOD
He fell half-asleep in the car during the short ride home. Sean brought him in and set him on the recliner. When I looked over at him, I found him like this:
Then he shifted positions:
Unfortunately for Ethan, we had dinner plans at a friends' house which meant no more napping - but it was with the Colemans, so Ethan was happy to play with the kids. After dinner, Brian [Coleman] and Jeff [another guy in our ward who's family is all out of town], had a little snooze on the couch. Can you tell they each have four kids and have mastered the fine art of tuning them out when necessary?!
So, Ethan was pretty good the rest of the day. Actually ate dinner [this is actually a major struggle every time we go to a friend's for dinner because he is more interested in playing with the kids than eating, so often won't eat - despite prompting and reminding and making up a plate - and then comes home starving and eats cereal or something], played well with the kids, listened when we set up the rules about being outside, etc. We had good food [Colemans had killed their rooster the day before, so we had chicken and then also ribs, potatoes from their garden, salad, cous cous and a coconut cake for dessert], good conversation and played Pass the Popcorn. When Sean, Ethan and I got home, we all pretty much crashed! Overall, I'd say it was a GOOD day... despite the bad day hiccups along the way!