My goodness! You know when you blink and apparently four months have passed by in which you haven’t posted a thing? Guess that ruined my New Year’s Resolution, but it was a good run… am I right?

I feel like I need some intro music or something to celebrate my return. Crank the volume!

Okay… a little better. Now cue the strut.

Awww yeah! Hope is back! (Left, right, left, right… watch my cane, now!)

What’s new in my world? Let’s see… work is great, the family’s doing good, and I’ve got some other ventures up my sleeve that have been keeping me crazy busy. I’ll tell you more about that at a later time, though.

Can’t complain over here at all. Jayden is getting bigger, and you can’t tell him that he’s not grown. In his mind, he’s at least in kindergarten.

You know how people start acting funny when they’re around others? Yeah… I’m raising one of those.

Every Sunday, we head to church. And as you may remember, we started taking Jay to Sunday School. He used to cry when we dropped him off and run into our arms when we came back. Then, he started walking into his classroom with no issues and was still happy when we came to pick him back up.

Now, he will hesitantly let us hand him over to his Sunday School teacher; but when we come and pick him up, it’s like he has resentment that we left him in such a place.

Here’s how the pick-up routine usually goes:

Parent #1: (peeks into child’s classroom) “Awwww… is that my Jessica? Hey Jessica! Hey, my Jessie poo! Were you a good girl? Of course you were!”

(Jessica is all smiles as she runs to her mom.)

Teacher: “Oh yeah.. she was such an angel. She loves arts and craft time. Such a precious baby. Bye, Jessica!”

Parent #2: (peeks into child’s classroom) “Hey! I’m here for Elijah. Oh.. there he is. Elijah! Hey little guy! You look like you’re having fun. Ready to go?”

(Elijah walks towards his dad while giggling profusely.)

Teacher: “He was so talkative today! Such a joy! Bye, Elijah!”

Me: (peeks into child’s classroom) “I’m here for Jayden.” (I stare right at Jayden while he stares back at me like, “Oh really, mother?)

Teacher: “Jayden! Your mom’s here.”

::crickets::

Me: “Jay, you’re not coming?”

Jayden: (shakes his head)

Me: “Really, Jay? C’mon! It’s time to go.”

Jayden: (blank stare then continues playing with his blocks)

Teacher: “Are you sure you’re his mother?” (nervous laughter)

Me: (ignores stupid comment) “Jay! Let’s go. NOW!”

(Teacher tries to guide Jayden to the door to leave.)

Jayden: “NO!”

(I turn around and the parents waiting behind me act like they’re not seeing the ridiculousness that’s unfolding before their eyes.)

Me: (walks in the door and forcefully picks Jayden up) “I don’t have time for this mess. C’MON!”

(Jayden’s squirming in my arms trying to get free until we actually exit the church.)

Me: “What is your problem? And why are you acting brand new? Anyways, did you have fun?”

Jayden: “No!”

Me: “Did you learn anything today?”

Jayden: “No!”

Me: (looks around to make sure no one is hearing our conversation) “Awesome! We’ll do it all again next week!”

When we get in the car, we give him a snack, and he’s back to normal. I think he’s still getting used to being forced into a room with other kids he doesn’t know. Oh well… he’ll get over it.

For those of you feeling sorry for Jayden, you should know that he knows what “no” means, but he also tends to err on the side of “no” even when he doesn’t know what you really asked. When I secretly observe him from afar while he’s in Sunday School, he looks like he’s having fun, so I’m sure it’s just a front. (He just starts acting funny when we leave him anywhere but my parents house…ha!)

I hope he grows out of this phase because going to church certainly isn’t going to stop. As the Bible says, “Train up a child….”

And for those who are looking at the screen like, “She’s acting like I know that verse,” then my advice to you is to pick up a Bible and get to reading, my friend. Haha! But seriously…

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6

This parenting thing is going to be a loooooong journey.