major stage fright

We were EARLY to church today (this never happens). David will probably say it's because he and Dennis went on without me and left me to follow in my own vehicle (he had to go to work right after the service), but I pulled up before they'd even gotten out of his car. We had time to enjoy breakfast with everyone before David went in to watch the service and I went to wrangle preschoolers in preparation for their big entrance and performance. As soon as we got across the street, Dennis became a Klingon (cling-on) and practically glued himself to my leg. He was needy and weepy and turned into Rubber Toddler a couple of times when we tried to get him to stand with the other kids. He was completely freaked out and was behaving completely unlike himself. He refused to walk over to the gym unless I carried him, and fortunately, cute little Grace came to his (my) rescue. She grabbed hold of his hand and walked with him the whole time and didn't let go of his hand until they were walking onto the stage. I just love Grace, love that Dennis also likes her and that they are the same age--I hope they'll be friends for quite a while, especially since they often have such a positive influence on each other at all the different church things they attend! I'd like to say he pulled it together then and sang his little heart out like he did at the Christmas program, but that isn't what happened. He got up there and stared nervously at the audience. He didn't sing a note or perform a single hand motion. He looked scared to pieces, but at least he wasn't the worst off. One of his buddies made it through the entire performance with his hands over his eyes! We left the gym with the children and headed over to the Sunday School class, and he remained clingy for the next hour as I helped keep control over all those preschoolers confined into the small classroom. He was back to himself again when I picked him up later from his children's church service. He insisted on going to hug the pastors, as usual, and as they asked him if he enjoyed singing, he replied "I had stage fright!". He said it was BIG stage fright, too, when he was telling me about it again in the car. We all did our best to assure him that lots of people get stage fright. There seem to be no lasting ill effects!