Lessons from Levi #6

"Lessons from Levi" is an ongoing everyday journey for both John and I, but I plan to share on the blog some of the highlights from our parenting journey.

Our first Lessons from Levi you can find here, but I want to update you on #3.

#3 Children need to LEARN to be still.

Levi has made a total 180 in this department, we're not perfect here by any means, but we have made dramatic progress. Here's what we've been doing this winter.

We've had several Sundays where church was cancelled due to the snow, so we had "church" at home. We all gathered on the couch and watched In Touch with Dr. Stanley (the preacher man, as Levi says). We told Levi he had to stay on the couch between Mommy and Daddy until the preacher man was all done talking about Jesus and he could either lay down and let Mommy rub his back or look in his Bible. The first time we did it he was definitely restless and whiny for the majority of it, but as we've had to do it 3 or 4 times he is very content now to look through his Bible the first little bit and then just rest on Mommy.

Now at "real" church after Sunday school, we bring Levi upstairs with us for the morning worship time. The first week he was anxious to get back downstairs right after the music was done, but after 3 weeks he almost stayed the whole entire service, content to read his Bible or lay down on Mommy. (We do have to bring his "monkey" in for this to work, I forgot that the first 2 weeks!) This last week, I knew he needed to go to the bathroom so after that I took him back downstairs to play the last 10-15 minutes or so. It's really a joy to have him upstairs with us listening and watching as the body of believers is worshipping together. I hope it instills a lasting impression on his little heart and mind.

So here's a new Lesson from Levi:

#6 Practice GOOD behaviour.

I already knew this, especially with my teacher background, but when you're in mommy-mode all the time;  nursing a baby, cleaning, doing laundry, wondering what to cook for dinner, or just playing with your kids, sometimes actually doing this is hard. This is why our Learning Time has been helpful, it makes me practice with Levi how to sit, how to talk to an adult, how to wait your turn, etc... We have really had to practice everything we want Levi to do and practice it when he's not expecting it, that is not right after getting in trouble for doing it wrong. Now we do that too, but I have found things go a lot better and he seems to want to please more when everything is going smooth already.

Practice really does make perfect...we hope!