Today I decided to take RP to the 7 p.m. Mass. Yesterday was eventful in that things with my next door neighbors finally came to a head, and I was a basket case, with RP doing everything in her power to stay up late and "help" the situation (which, cutely enough, warranted her "reading" to me from her Big Book of Animals). I have been woefully remiss in attending Mass regularly and knew that RP and I needed to get our butts to church, so this seemed to be the perfect solution.
All in all we had a great day today - a nice long walk through the forest preserve this morning, followed by some highly anticipated fun with Play-Doh, lunch, and a brief nap - which was followed by a great dinner with Nana and Papa, and Mass with Nana. I knew that going to church later in the evening would pose a risk for RP - she is normally in bed at 7 p.m., although most nights she doesn't actually fall asleep until close to 9 - but I was willing to take it.
I have to say that for the most part she was very well behaved in church, especially considering they didn't have the "Crying Room" open and we had to sit in what I affectionately call "General Population." She was fascinated with the Mass books/hymnals and flipped through page after page. She loved saying "Amen" with everyone every time she heard it, and was interested in watching the priest and everything going on during the Mass.
That being said, two things about Mass tonight stand out for me. First, RP also LOVES to sing. It doesn't matter if she knows the words, she just makes up her own and sings her little heart out, no matter what genre the song. The more she likes it, the louder she sings. From the sounds of things tonight, she LOVED "Joyful, Joyful," which was the closing song for Mass. She LOVED that song a LOT, and sang it loudly. VERY loudly. Off-key, wrong words, and all. Have I mentioned how LOUD she was? It wasn't even being naughty for the sake of being naughty loud either - it was a genuine "I want to sing with the rest of you because this is a cool song" type of singing, coming from her heart. I almost bit my tongue off trying not to laugh, and Nana wasn't so lucky - she was shaking and crying from laughing so hard at the poor kid (although I'm not sure others around us felt the same way!).
The second memorable event at Mass tonight was RP insisting that she needed to "eat" in line with everyone else - i.e., take Communion. She tried to run away from me to the priest when she saw him handing out Communion, her little hand up in the air like everyone else's, ready to receive the host. Luckily I grabbed her and folded her arms across her chest for the blessing, then took Communion of my own. When she realized that no host was forthcoming for her, she stopped dead in her tracks, looked up at the Eucharistic Minister, and cried, "HEY!!!" Yep, I hustled her little tushie back down the aisle as fast as our legs would carry us, then tried to explain to a three-year old that she couldn't have Communion yet, and that it would be a very special celebration on the day she finally could. When that didn't work, I gave her some yogurt-melts, which seemed to do the trick. Ahhh...
Our adventure at Church tonight ended when we all got in the car, Nana and I still chuckling over RP's rendition of "Joyful, Joyful." As we waited in line with all the other cars to leave the parking lot, a tiny voice perked up from the back seat and cried out, "Let's GO people!" Nana and I busted out laughing, as we both knew all too well exactly where she got THAT from, and Nana remarked, "Yep - she does spend WAY too much time with you!" Yes Nana, that's true - she is truly a chip off the old block!
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