The Millennial Star

Conference and two-year-old boys

Well, I didn’t get to see much of General Conference this weekend. The culprit is, of course, my two-and-a-half-year-old Tazmanian Devil of a son, Joshua B. Joshua is a the sweetest boy I’ve ever seen (well, in reality, he’s tied with his five-month-old brother Ian), but he does not believe in quietly watching old men (and the occasional woman) droning away on BYU-TV.

This weekend he was a dinosaur and a lion. I would be watching a talk and he would attack head down, roaring like the T-Rex in “Toy Story” or Simba in “The Lion King.” Eventually, I gave up and took him to the park, where he tuckered himself out enough to come home and take a nap. But by then Conference was over.

There was a nice interlude during the Sunday afternoon session, however. Joshua had just eaten lunch and I asked him if he wanted to watch the pretty singing. So, he sat in his pint-sized blue armchair and put his little arms in his laps. I turned on the afternoon session and the Choir began singing “Beautiful Zion.” He was fascinated. He watched with the rapt attention he usually only uses for a Disney movie or “Elmo.” He even put his little fists over his eyes during the prayer.

But then the prayer was over, and another droning talk was about to start. The dinosaur was released from its slumber. It attacked a large fire truck, which protested loudly, “fire rescue team on the scene, fire rescue team on the scene!” Mommy and Daddy gave up again and went to the park, where the dinosaur laughed itself silly on the swings and the slides.

There is something true about music soothing the savage beast. Or perhaps Joshua was remembering choirs he had heard before he came to the Earth. In any case, I appreciated that brief, five-minute interlude. Maybe by next year, the interlude will be 15 minutes. Nah, by then we’ll have a 17-month-old to worry about as well.

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