… And it all happened at Kid’s Club

Tonight was an unusual night in many ways. It ended with such an unexpectedly pleasant (and humorous) turn of events that Kim and I deemed it blog worthy.

For starters you need to know that we all went to church tonight. We don’t normally all make it to a Wednesday night service. Normally one parent stays home with the youngest children. Both Kim and I like to attend, but the reality is that Wednesday night church does make for a late evening for our kiddies.

I should also mention that the Wednesday night church routine is somewhat different for the children's classes. Ben’s class and Jonathan’s class merge together in a common room known as “Kid’s Club” for a portion of the time. It’s a good technique for dealing with kids at that hour, I think. (Keep ‘em moving.) We weren’t sure how Jonathan would deal with this change in routine and the late hour.

But, there was a special speaker this evening that both Kim and I wanted to hear. So we decided to risk it and give Wednesday night church a try. After the church service I was given the task of picking up Ben. Ben’s track record with Wednesday night church has not been the best… when he is tired he is most prone to make trouble for a parent, teacher, or I suppose any other authority figure. So, I got the job of picking up Ben and getting “the report.”

I was greeted with a very pleasant surprise. According to his teacher Ben had been very well behaved in class AND I was also informed that Ben took a very active part in consoling Jonathan during Kid’s Club. It seems that Jonathan wasn’t dealing well with the change in environment and was starting to get distraught. Ben picked up on this, sat down next to Jonathan, and essentially befriended his kid brother.

Wow! Considering that those two had been tussling over one thing or another for the last 72 hours this was great news.

I told Ben how proud I was of him. I told Kim the happy news when we got in the car. More praise for Ben. Then the dialogue began between Jonathan and Ben as we drove home. When those two get on a roll, it can be hysterical. They carry on like two little old men.

I’m going to attempt to reproduce the dialogue here. It went something like this.

Mom: So, Jonathan, were you sad in Kid’s Club?

Jonathan: Yes.

Mom: Ben, did you notice that Jonathan was sad?

Ben: Yes.

Mom: What did you do to make him feel better?

Ben: I sat next to him.

Mom: Because that’s what brothers do, right?

Ben: Yes…. I think he knew it was me because I was wearing my name tag.

Mom: I think he would know you even without the name tag.

Ben: Yeah. Maybe.... Jonathan?

Jonathan: What?

Ben: When we get to our house I’m going to give you a big hug.

Jonathan: Huggie!

Ben: When we get to out house.

Jonathan: House? What house? That house? (Pointing out the window.)

Ben: (deep sigh.) No our house.

Jonathan: Mama’s house? My house?

Ben: Yes, your house.

Jonathan: My house.

And so the conversation goes on and on. A lot of conversations with Jonathan go like that these days. The point here is that we are seeing real growth in our two youngest boys. It is a real treat to see Ben own up to his big brother role in his four-almost-five year old way. It’s also a delight to see Jonathan growing in his ability to speak and relate to his siblings.

The young un’s are in bed now. Ben insisted on helping tuck Jonathan in.

It was a good night, a very good night.