Last Weekend, This Weekend
Last weekend we had klaughingbrook's daughter L., 8, and silk1's daughter E., 5, over for the weekend. It was lots of fun... mostly hours and hours of swimming in the pool. The girls are adorable and E. taught L. how to improvise with Legos (L. is very rule-bound). I took them to church on Sunday. I am used to taking klaughingbrook's kids to church; they are accustomed to it, and they love the atmosphere at St. Nicholas. E., on the other hand, had never been to a church like ours before. She had been to church with her grandparents, but their parish keeps the kids out of the church itself during the service. The kids play games and do crafts while the adults pray.
Orthodox churches are quite different. Most don't have Sunday School during the Liturgy, as it's considered important for the kids to be in church with the adults.
Poor E. had no idea how to behave, which surprised me for about two seconds until I remembered that her parents aren't Christians and she can have had very little exposure. I would remind her to whisper, but she forgot a lot. L. was incredibly helpful, taking her around the church to look at the icons and downstairs when she needed a break. The result of the whole thing, however, was fairly amusing. (Please note that all of these comments were made in the kind of conversational tone one uses when calling someone across a playground.)
E.: "Is it over yet? This is boring!" (cue Russian grandmother-types smothering giggles)
E., when I take her to get antidoran: "My mommy doesn't let me drink wine!"
Me: "Don't worry, E., it's OK this time. Your mother won't be upset."
E. tastes the wine: "That's all right, I don't like this!"
This weekend, when I went to church, I saw a friend's five-year-old daughter lifting up her skirt at the end of the service, showing (an underskirt? a slip? her underwear?) to a friend while standing right in front of the steps to the altar as the priests came out. The nearest adult woman caught her and brought her back. I whispered to her mother, "What was O. trying to show her friend?" and her mother said, "I'm afraid to ask!"
We went miniature golfing this weekend with scooterbird. Today we're going to see G.I. Joe with silk1 and her husband. There is a heat advisory, so the pool should be nice and warm this evening.
Orthodox churches are quite different. Most don't have Sunday School during the Liturgy, as it's considered important for the kids to be in church with the adults.
Poor E. had no idea how to behave, which surprised me for about two seconds until I remembered that her parents aren't Christians and she can have had very little exposure. I would remind her to whisper, but she forgot a lot. L. was incredibly helpful, taking her around the church to look at the icons and downstairs when she needed a break. The result of the whole thing, however, was fairly amusing. (Please note that all of these comments were made in the kind of conversational tone one uses when calling someone across a playground.)
E.: "Is it over yet? This is boring!" (cue Russian grandmother-types smothering giggles)
E., when I take her to get antidoran: "My mommy doesn't let me drink wine!"
Me: "Don't worry, E., it's OK this time. Your mother won't be upset."
E. tastes the wine: "That's all right, I don't like this!"
This weekend, when I went to church, I saw a friend's five-year-old daughter lifting up her skirt at the end of the service, showing (an underskirt? a slip? her underwear?) to a friend while standing right in front of the steps to the altar as the priests came out. The nearest adult woman caught her and brought her back. I whispered to her mother, "What was O. trying to show her friend?" and her mother said, "I'm afraid to ask!"
We went miniature golfing this weekend with scooterbird. Today we're going to see G.I. Joe with silk1 and her husband. There is a heat advisory, so the pool should be nice and warm this evening.