Feeling at home at chuch

Prior to Carter's arrival, Chris and I attended a local Catholic church. We really enjoyed it and did our premarital counseling there as well as some other classes that I think have really helped us in our marriage. Fast forward a bit and we have a 2 year old who does not quite get the whole sitting quietly through mass. Sure, we can bribe him and make it through OK, but we really weren't able to fully participate in mass and constantly were taking turns keeping Carter occupied.

The only other option at the church was the understaffed nursery where they just keep an eye on your child and they are not equipped to contact you if you are needed for your child. Apparently there used to be a system in place with pagers, but it doesn't work any more. To know how child-friendly this church was, all you had to do was need a place to change a diaper. There are no changing tables!

So... we got to talking about what we wanted out of a church. Top on my list was somewhere that all 3 of us could feel fulfilled after a service. I wanted a place that Carter could have fun, but all learn about our religious beliefs while Chris and I enjoyed a service that got us excited each week. We tried a few different churches and each one seemed to have either something great for Carter or something great for us. Never both.

We finally tried another church a couple weeks ago and really like it! Chris and I enjoy the service and Carter LOVES his "school". Their Sunday School program is amazing as is their tracking system. There are computer terminals all over and when you arrive, you just type in your phone number, select the child, and print his name badge sticker. From their he gets checked in for some fun.

He enjoys it so much that we looked into their preschool program (they have a private school up through middle school). I personally am not ready for him to be in preschool, but I thought it would be good to get him started in something so that when Coen gets home, he has a routine and a break from his little brother 2 mornings each week. We loved the school and Carter had a 2 year old tantrum when we had to leave after our tour. Unfortunately, they don't have room for him now, but he will get registered to start in September.

It is such a great feeling knowing that he is excited to go to church. We don't have to worry about any meltdowns when it is time for us to leave him. So, we freaked out a little bit when we saw his number flash on the screen during service today. We both bolted to his classroom. On the way we tried to figure out why they would be calling us to get him.

*There were quite a few kids there this morning.
*He is pretty sensitive... maybe one of the kids took a toy from him and he started crying?

I then jokingly said, "maybe he is so comfortable he pooped and they want me to change him." We laughed at this thought.

What you need to know is that Carter does NOT poo poo outside of our house. If we go to Grandma's house or the lake house, we start to get concerned about his lack of regularity. He finally gives in and lets loose about 24 hours into being somewhere else.

I ran into the room and saw Carter happily playing. I looked at one of the caretakers, perplexed by this... She just said, "oh, Carter needs his pants changed."

We got his pants changed and he went right back to playing. Wow, he really does feel at home at church. ;)