Oh, it's not church night

I probably say this over and over again in my blogs but I have 5 nieces...all from one sister. The middle child, Lauren, is 2 1/2 years old and so adorable with tons of black silky hair and big, dark eyes. She's become a little out-of-sorts since the arrival of her younger twin sisters having now lost the limelight. So, Scott and I have been making a big effort to take her to church with us every Friday night.

When she was much younger, she hated leaving home. She was such a mommy's girl. She stayed with us for three days while my sister was at the hospital delivering twins and she cried every night. For a few months, whenever she saw me or especially Scott at her house, she assumed we were coming to take her away from mom and she would start crying. Don't believe me? Hah, see Scott's video below.



Can you believe that was a year ago?

Now she wants to be anywhere but home. She's such an explorer. She just wants to be out out out!!! She now gets so excited and when we arrive to pick her up, she's walking around the house with her slippers, hat and backpack on ready to go. She tells everyone "I go church." Granted, church to her is the big nursery filled with toys with playful butterflies on the walls, but boy does she love the idea of going to church. This past Friday, we forgot to bring her backpack, hat and slippers with us when we dropped it off. Yesterday, we had a wedding at Ko Olina so we dropped by to drop off the backpack, hat and slippers.

Oh, she got so excited when she saw us. But she really lit up when she saw her backpack. She sailed across the living room and grabbed. She then proceed to put on her backpack...then her slippers....then her hat. We were sitting down chatting with my oldest niece, Ashley and my sister. Lauren climbed into my lap and was all giggly and excited. Halfway through our stay, I looked at my sister and asked "Does she think she's going with us?" Uh-oh. I tried to tell Lauren that we were going to go home, go sleep...and we would come back for her tomorrow to go church. Of course, she's two...her grasp of English seems to be very selective. It didn't really kick in until Scott stood up and wished her good-bye that I think it sunk in. Her face just fell and her body just slumped as she folded her arms and stared at her feet. She started crying as we walked out....oh, it was so heartbreaking. Tomorrow is Friday and church night so hopefully I can atone for it. My, how things have changed.