Yesterday at church, Lewis had a meltdown. We went out to get a drink of water and he couldn't be reverent enough to go back into the chapel. So I sat with him on a chair in the foyer. He wiggled and tried to get off my lap and when I wouldn't let go he broke into full blown crying. So we moved into a classroom where he wouldn't disturb others.
He had to sit on a chair, fold his arms and be silent, then we could go back in. He was having none of it. He spun in the chair, wouldn't fold his arms and sobbed: "I hate church" "My wanna go back in by Henna and Mae Mae" "This is dumb" "I am telling daddy on you" "I wanna go home" "I hate chairs" were some of his more memorable phrases.
Finally (30-40 min later) he was sitting correctly, and folding his arms but still screaming/crying with his mouth closed figuring I'd think that was close enough to silent to let him go back in. Sadly, no, I wanted no more crying. As we were sitting there the door cracked open and his friend Eden (age 2) appeared. Lewis loves Eden. He broke into a huge smile and said "Eden! Mommy, look, its my friend Eden, she made me find my happy face! I'm not sad any more."
And, he wasn't. He gave Eden a hug and they sat in the chairs folding and folded their arms and then Lew and I went back into the chapel.
