Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

A summary of Samuel's last 3 weeks at church:

Three weeks ago Samuel made it through ALL of mass sitting in church. I don't think we even had to go to the vestibule for a water break. Granted, it was early in the morning and at the time I thought perhaps he wasn't very awake, thereby accounting for his compliant behavior. Also, he recited the last part of The Lord's Prayer! I have been holding up a board book with the words to this prayer for well over a year now, but he has never said any of it out loud.


The second Sunday he not only sat with me, but with his brothers as well. We only had to take one water break, but it was at a pretty good time. Both weeks we reached the Homily before I gave him any Skittles (which has been my reinforcer to keep him quiet for some time now). Now for the amazing part: we attended mass at a time that we have not gone in over a year, AND THIS MASS HAD MUSIC AND SINGING! I informed him ahead of time that there would be singing and music. I asked him if he would be able to tolerate this. His first answer was "No," but after a few seconds he said, "Okay." I really didn't expect him to be able to tolerate it, but he did fantastic! He again said part of the Lord's Prayer out loud.

The third Sunday was today. Hopeful that Samuel would continue his positive trend, I had our entire family sit in the same pew, something we have not done yet. This appeared to bother Samuel a little, but he sat just as well as he had the previous two weeks. We didn't have to take any water break, but just before communion he got a little impatient. He was asking questions about the Lord's Prayer book and I asked him to wait until after church was over for us to talk about it. Well, that was a bit much for him so he tossed the book! Fortunately we were in the back row so it did not land on anyone. He then screamed so I took him out to the vestibule where he screamed again. I then took him outside of the church. It was a bit chilly so he was not very happy to be there. I told him that he needed to have a quiet mouth before we went back in. The screaming started again and this time his Dad came out. He gave me our little girl and he took Samuel out to the car. Thank goodness our 10 year old and 5 year old boys are little angels in church. They are used to us having to leave them when we have to deal with our little girl or Samuel.

Oh well, our church hasn't been "treated" to Samuel's screams in a long time but they got quite a dose of it today!

What will I do differently next week? First, I'll try to get the boys to bed a little earlier the night before! I got caught up in change-of-seasons clothing project last night and bedtime got away from me! Also, I think I am going to re-type the Lord's prayer on some plain paper. Samuel gets very interested in one of the pictures in his board book, which is what he was trying to talk to me about today. Important: I will show him the re-typed prayer and will let him know that it will replace the board book at mass! Also, if Dad gives me a break from Samuel, I'll be sure to take Samuel back into the church before we leave. I think that is important. He needs to know his behavior doesn't get him out of the expectation we have of him to be in church.

When I got in the car after mass, Samuel was crying and said "I'm so sorry Mommy!" I told him it was okay and that we would try again next week!