Primary Wiggles

Today was our ward's Primary Program (a special church sacrament meeting where all the children from 3-12 put on a religiously-themed program for their parents and other ward members).

It is always fun to watch the little kids wiggling about--45 minutes is a very long time for a three year old to sit perfectly still. Everett is the youngest child by about 6 months, and you can certainly tell just by watching him.

Two minutes into the program, Everett looked to his right and noticed that he was within arm's reach of the sacrament table. What is on the sacrament table? The sacrament bread, covered by a white cloth. Everett, quick as a sparrow, reached his little arm up and under that cloth and brought an entire handful of bread back to his mouth. He chewed happily. I shook my head vigorously at him; Everett grinned and shook his head right back at me. A few other members of the audience were trying to get the attention of Everett's primary teacher who was sitting right by him but was looking the opposite direction. Finally another teacher tapped him on the shoulder, and he leaned down and gently put a stop to Everett's mischief.

Fortunately Everett didn't help himself to any more snacks. He did, however, do a whole bunch of entertaining things, such as dragging his mouth back and forth along the podium wall. Joel and I spent the majority of the time shaking our heads at him (and hiding our amused expressions). Everett responded by shaking his head right back at us--as he kept on doing whatever it was that he was doing.

At the end of the program, all the kids stayed on the stand while the Bishop came up to close the meeting with a few words. Everett decided he had had enough, and I think his teacher agreed, because Everett made a swift exit and returned back to our pew.

What a funny kid. We had a talk after church about how and why we should treat the sacrament items with reverence, and Everett understood. I can't help but wish in a small way that Everett will be three again for the primary program next year--it sure made for an interesting church meeting.