SUNDAY FUN FOR EVERYONE - except Mommy

Took the girls to a baptism today. It was AWESOME! I love standing out in the hall the whole time, missing the entire thing because my 23 month old keeps crying loudly about wanting to go see "Desus" again. The truth is that baptism times don't work for toddlers. This is no criticism against my great friends who invited us, or my wonderful husband who conveniently had other plans during the event, leaving me to go it alone. Baptisms are wonderful, momentous occasions. Problem is, kids don't know a wonderful, momentous occasion even if it comes up and bites them. All my toddler cared about was trying to get her pudgy little fingers into the extremely realistic holes in "Desus's" hands and side and all my 7 year old cared about was sitting in the front row with the rest of the "family" (not ours, of course, but hey, that's where she sat at HER sister's baptism) and the 4th row was basically like being in steerage on the Titanic to her. After some obnoxious moments of putting her sister's blankie over her head and looking around to see who was watching how funny she was, my 7 year old ended up doing amazingly well. Well, AFTER I told her to stop acting like a two year old and start acting like the 7 year old she is, that is. GOOD MOM HERE! What did I learn from today's little debacle?

1. I will no longer take a toddler to a function during her nap time. Ever, no matter what.
2. The next baptism is in 3 weeks - Daddy will be taking 7 year old while Mommy stays home getting a little R & R during 2 year old's nap.
3. Telling a 23 month old to stop crying and be quiet has no affect on her, but it sure does piss me off every time it doesn't work. Like all 23 times I told her.

Aaaaaahhhhhhh, weekends - LOVE 'EM! Can't wait until we get back to the routine of Monday. This is something I learned when 7 year old was the toddler. Any time that I USED to think of as relaxing is actually the polar opposite of that now (weekends, vacations, nice dinners with children along - hahahahaha!). The ROUTINE (must put this in all caps to show the importance of the ROUTINE) is essential for a gifted child (all children, really). And without the ROUTINE (say, for example, going to church two times in one day within 2 hours), pain is likely to follow for the short term, and sometimes the long term. BUT, all's well that ends well for the next couple of hours today at least. One is now playing happily in her room and the other is finally, blessedly, napping. Time for a little belated R & R.