I led Mattias up the stairs by the hand today! / Korean lunch

I'll have to split today's events up into two posts! I was probably outside a few minutes early in the cold to wait for Eric this morning; he possibly decided to tell me an earlier time, which I can understand. We talked about WORLD OF WARCRAFT, Friday, DARKWING DUCK, insanity, "talking about how great Randal was" (right...), the BC Lions game this afternoon which they had to win in order to advance further into the playoffs, the Edmonton Eskimos, two kinds of hot air, my venting, next week's time change, his faking the hyper "cheery morning person" on the phone earlier, my week, "Dee-Jo" (which he always insists I'm saying wrong), and more stuff. When we got to the church, Stanley and Jon C. were talking about certain kinds of cymbals and sound; I paid little attention to the conversation. Once Nina, Emily, Gerard, and a friend came in, I gravitated toward them.

They talked about a scary movie (HOME SWEET HOME) involving the devil / elevators / children (Gerard - age 7? - was watching it, but he fell asleep), chicken pox (I've never had it [so I'll feel like dying if I ever DO get it], and neither has their friend or Gerard), chicken pox parties which parents hold these days, lotion, not scratching, hitting people with bags (little brothers are SUPPOSED to annoy older sisters!), and more. Once we entered the sanctuary (I saw Dylan and Deb back from the Philippines), Phil was telling Alan about his baby son Micah's facial expressions... especially when trying to fart, haha. It DOES seem uncomfortable when you're only two weeks old and trying to figure this stuff out! When Nathan got there, I said hi while checking out his religion-themed poster. Also greeted Jeremy when he came in to sit by me, haha. We finally learned the name of Mattias' new baby brother: MARCUS! I noticed a bit of a theme going on! Said hi to Steph, and noticed that a fingernail was annoying me because it broke! She has a nail clipper at home, which I turned out not to need because the broken part came off during Sunday School. I told both my siblings that Teunis might call them from Skype if he wanted to join us later. Talked to Chrystal, and told her that Awana had been fine yesterday!

Had a guest speaker who apparently had a cold, but some of us agreed later that it didn't seem like he'd lost his voice like he was warning us! I saw Acer in a subtle "Where's Waldo?" costume, and later saw his sister Calla upstairs back from her Hawaiian honeymoon. Made sure to look for Grandma - when I found her, she asked if we were going to lunch with her. I said no, so she thought we had Fellowship! When I said that Alan Yu would be taking her to lunch, she got confused and said she didn't know such a person! Yes, you do... it's Mom and Dad's friend! I left her to sit on the chairs with her friends, and was going to enter the fellowship hall when I got distracted by little Mattias with Auntie Lillian and others. Yes, he's a big brother now! This week, I didn't even make it to the fellowship hall like I normally do.

I said hi to Mattias, who kept pointing upstairs. Since I didn't see his grandma Auntie Catherine anywhere, I asked him if he wanted to go upstairs. He seemed to understand what I was saying, and nodded. Then I asked him if he wanted me to take him upstairs; you never know with little kids! Since he did, I took him upstairs by the hand at a pace appropriate for a two-year-old. That's okay, since sometimes I walk slowly ANYWAY! Good thing he recognizes and trusts me that far, haha. Eric T.'s dad asked where I was taking him, so I let him know. People said hi to Mattias on our way to the usual room, including Frances. Mattias wanted to check out the Grade 1 classroom (where Amos and Harrison were) because he knew there were toy cars in there! I saw Pauline with her son Conor, so said hi to them both. An auntie came in to give him five Hot Wheels / Matchbox / Fresh Wheels toy cars, which are apparently his favorite thing nowadays.

Ramen, Shira, Arthur, Ada, Ashley, David, and Evelyn also showed up for Toddler Sunday School; Jessie, Auntie Ying, and Rachel's grandma also showed up to help. Took the opportunity to explain to Auntie Ying why I'm not calling her anymore: I don't want to wake up the baby! For all I know, he stays up all night, but still. She understands! I made sure that Mattias had all his new toy cars at the end of the class, which was fine because he dropped them on the floor (and wanted me to pick them up!), and almost left the green one on a shelf in the room! Jessica came in and drew him a racetrack, showing him how to use it... and he did! His grandparents came in to see how he was doing, and thanked me for looking after him when I explained what happened.

Evelyn drew a "mountain," and I spent a couple of minutes "reading" board books with Ashley while she babbled about the pictures within. When it was storytime, Ramen seemed attracted to my sweater's bling, which only is effective when there's light around. Since I believe in telling kids why things work the way they do (if I know!), I told him about the light. The kids liked the sun streaming in from the window, and Shira tugged on my sleeve to get me to notice the shadow that the blinds cast on her chair; of course, I told her where it was coming from! At the end of Sunday School, Eric came upstairs to make sure that I'd do what everyone else was doing in terms of lunch pre-marathon since he was going to the football game later - he's so helpful when he's not bugging me!

I made it to the elevator just in time, and went downstairs to find Christon / Jen / Randal / Jon / Harmony / Jeremy / Steph trying to see what to do for lunch. Christon suggested a Korean restaurant near Cho Sun in the Samosa Garden Plaza; he didn't know the name, but said we'd definitely figure it out when we got there! We did - it was called Da Rae Oak, and was NOT Joy Joy House a few doors down! Since the Chinese congregation seemed to be having an epic meeting (as proved by the live screen feed in the foyer), Steph assumed that Alan Yu would have things under control when it came to Grandma! I went with Steph to the parkade (good thing the door was open!), and she said that Grandma was still a bit confused this morning when she picked her up for church from the respite centre. Grandma seemed to know that Steph wasn't visiting her, but did ask about the sign for the respite centre RIGHT AFTER WALKING OUT OF THE BUILDING! "Oh, what does the sign say? What church is that?" There IS a church about a block away (as I found out last week), but YOU JUST WALKED OUT OF THE BUILDING THIRTY SECONDS AGO! Oh well, it's Big G! She also yelled things out the windows for the pedestrians - UGH!

At lunch, we discussed crowded Asian markets / butternut squash / kimchi / pickled stuff / pork bone soup / leftovers which I took home later / substantial meals like Jen's (rice and veggies and meat and noodles?!) / their Sunday School material (which I tuned out) / the Halloween party which Jon and Harmony went to yesterday (interesting / lame costumes!) / side dishes / noodles / Jeremy's spicy stuff / the poor woman who had to do EVERYTHING connected with running the restaurant. When Jon congratulated Jen for finishing 85% of her plate, Christon and Jen were very confused because they'd heard "85% of your WEIGHT!" Hahahaha! Of course, I sat between Jeremy and Christon, and found that Randal might have agreed with me when I told Christon to start on his hot soup item first because it might get cold. While they prayed for the food, I kept a vigilant watch to see when the other food items might come - I'm not like some people who are really uncomfortable with public prayer in restaurants, but you don't want to keep the server waiting since that would be slightly rude! After lunch, Steph tried getting me to slap Harmony's butt since she's my sister now too. I don't think she'd approve! Jeremy just laughed at us, haha.

Hmm... this entry is already long enough. I think I'll continue in my next post... yes, I know I've had longer posts. Shut up. :P