The Church Ladies - Part 2

Well, I promised you a conclusion to that story about our practice round at the church, though it seems a bit anti-climactic after going through Mia's actual baptism this past Sunday.

When we last left our heroines, they had finished perusing the "My First Words" book. Mia was getting a bit bored and besides that, she started fussing with her lovely new white sandals, trying in vain to unbuckle them ("unvelcro", really). She got that attitude of frustration and I suspected a fit was coming, so I took the path of least resistance and removed the sandals myself. Mia then wanted to get down from the pew, so I let her stand there barefoot, playing with the hymnals, bibles, offering envelopes, and various flyers. A baby was being baptized, but I was so busy ensuring the safety of hymnals or bibles, I really couldn't pay attention.
Just about the time the process of removing the envelopes from the slots at the back of the pew, crumpling them, and then trying to return them to the slot was losing its fascination, the cherub choir stood up to sing. I let Mia stand on the pew to watch them, since she loves watching other kids. She didn't seem to care about the singing, but apparently decided it was a good time to do some vocalizing herself. She smiled and yelled "Daaaa Laaaaa" (one of her all-purpose exclamations that we have yet to decipher) in the general direction of the choir. People around us smiled, no doubt thinking she was responding to the choir, so I went along with the charade.
After the choir finished their number, the minister invited all children to come forward for the children's message. I made a split second decision that this would be a good chance for Mia to familiarize herself with the view from the alter, so I carried her up to the front. On the way, I remembered she was shoeless, but there was no turning back. I held Mia tight during the children's sermon and she remained reasonably still, though I could feel her desire to fidget building by the minute. When they wrapped up, I scooped up our gal and we headed back to our seats, bare feet flapping. The very kind members who sat near us whispered, "She did great up there." After that, Mia didn't want to sit still in the pew. She was pushing her way toward the aisle, straining my ability to hold her back. I decided we'd probably had as much "practice" as we could stand, so we made our getaway. Total elapsed time: 35 minutes.