Taking the kids to church...part two...
So we went to church with the kids again. This time with only the youngest, Ana and David, as Mikey was with his Mom this weekend. I followed the advice of many kind souls offered to us in emails and in the comments section of this blog. Don't be afraid to leave comments. Halo-scan won't bite...I promise.
Armed with the kids blankies, some crayons, leggos, David's monkey and bear, a few books and some juice cups...off we went to church. Jim and I decided outright that he would handle David and I would handle Ana, David being more laid back about which parent to whom he needs to be attached. I also decided that I would head right up front with Ana this time. That's where she wanted to be last time and frankly I wanted to be there too. I really wanted to know what was going on up there while the rest of us are singing.
Today actually went much better than last week. More time was spent in the actual service. Ana and David both took turns walking around us...in circles just walking around and around and around. I couldn't really walk around and show the kids many icons as there are chairs lined up in front of most of them with people sitting in them. Being up front was helpful as it offered Ana something else to focus on...especially when the Father was doing a lot with the censer. I think we both enjoyed that part!
We did have to exit the service a few times for potty breaks and once when David lost it trying to play with my necklace. It was a noveau faux pearl necklace with about a centimeter's space of wire between each "pearl." David was determined they were balls and that he was going to play with them! Of course, he started screaming, "BALL" at which point we left the sanctuary whereupon I removed the offending necklace and placed it in Jim's pocket. We looked at books during the homily. I wasn't really able to focus on Father Gregory's message very much, but the kids were relatively quiet.
During the preparation for the Eucharist, David spent quite a bit of time walking around with his dollar store monkey doing his own version of censing...it was rather amusing. During the actual communion part we stayed in the Narthex and let the kids wander a bit. We won't be taking communion for quite some time so we felt we might as well be out of the way. We returned once the eucharist had been served. All in all it was pretty ok. I tried to prevent Ana from laying on the floor and kicking so much as I want her to have some idea of having reverence. I did allow her to sit on the floor. Ana wanted to go right up front to the iconostasis...but I couldn't let her do that...she'd likely break every rule of Orthodoxy and end up right under the altar where she's definitely not allowed to be!
I was able to sing along a bit today...mostly with the "Lord Have Mercy...." parts. The rest of it is still too much. I'll get there...
Armed with the kids blankies, some crayons, leggos, David's monkey and bear, a few books and some juice cups...off we went to church. Jim and I decided outright that he would handle David and I would handle Ana, David being more laid back about which parent to whom he needs to be attached. I also decided that I would head right up front with Ana this time. That's where she wanted to be last time and frankly I wanted to be there too. I really wanted to know what was going on up there while the rest of us are singing.
Today actually went much better than last week. More time was spent in the actual service. Ana and David both took turns walking around us...in circles just walking around and around and around. I couldn't really walk around and show the kids many icons as there are chairs lined up in front of most of them with people sitting in them. Being up front was helpful as it offered Ana something else to focus on...especially when the Father was doing a lot with the censer. I think we both enjoyed that part!
We did have to exit the service a few times for potty breaks and once when David lost it trying to play with my necklace. It was a noveau faux pearl necklace with about a centimeter's space of wire between each "pearl." David was determined they were balls and that he was going to play with them! Of course, he started screaming, "BALL" at which point we left the sanctuary whereupon I removed the offending necklace and placed it in Jim's pocket. We looked at books during the homily. I wasn't really able to focus on Father Gregory's message very much, but the kids were relatively quiet.
During the preparation for the Eucharist, David spent quite a bit of time walking around with his dollar store monkey doing his own version of censing...it was rather amusing. During the actual communion part we stayed in the Narthex and let the kids wander a bit. We won't be taking communion for quite some time so we felt we might as well be out of the way. We returned once the eucharist had been served. All in all it was pretty ok. I tried to prevent Ana from laying on the floor and kicking so much as I want her to have some idea of having reverence. I did allow her to sit on the floor. Ana wanted to go right up front to the iconostasis...but I couldn't let her do that...she'd likely break every rule of Orthodoxy and end up right under the altar where she's definitely not allowed to be!
I was able to sing along a bit today...mostly with the "Lord Have Mercy...." parts. The rest of it is still too much. I'll get there...