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Aug. 30th, 2010 10:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sethrakYesterday was a mixed bag.
I decided to take Mark with me to Mass, for the first time sincedavner's last deployment. Those prior trips never went well, and until I discovered the housing chapel at Langley had a childcare room (unattended) with a closed-circuit tv so parents could watch the service, we mostly spent Mass walking up and down the hall outside the sacristy, or in the tiny chapel to Mary. (Mark really liked all the statues and candles, but had an unfortunate tendency to climb and try nomming on rosaries.)
Peterson's chapel has no such child care room. So since we arrived, I've been leaving the Zodlings with their daddy on Sunday mornings. It gave me a nice little slice of peace and quiet, but I felt bad. One of the few things my parents did right was always taking every one of us along when they attended Mass, and making sure we were appropriately occupied with small toys and religious picture books until we got old enough to pay attention.
Trying to take both the boys at the same time, without a child care room, was an obvious recipe for disaster. I thought about taking Jack first, since he's considerably more cooperative than Mark. But as Dav pointed out, that's not fair to mark' he's the eldest, and shouldn't get passed over for privileges. One of the things that angers me most about the way my aunt raises my cousins is that the elder, who has cerebral palsy, is treated like a child, and a particularly stupid one at that, with few privileges, whereas her four-years-younger sister gets away with murder.
So I took Mark to mass yesterday.
It went really horribly. :;sigh;: At first, he was really eager and bouncy, practically running across the parking lot while holding my hand. He cooperated with the holy water and making the sign of the Cross. And he sat down in the chair in the back hall very obediently. (Overflow seating, with a window into the main church.) We got there right before the priest and altar servers were ready to head inside, so Mark didn't have to wait long.
::sigh:: I was expecting him to require walking up and down the long hallway to the bathrooms for most of the service. I was expecting him to not enjoy some of the singing; his ears are sensitive.
I did not expect a meltdown of such scope and immediacy that we couldn't even stay for the first reading. -_- Not even going into the hallway calmed him. Nor the parking lot. I ended up just taking him home.
He relaxed a little when we got into the car, but started freaking out again when he realized we were going home. Possibly he thought we were going to school, or Culver's. The latter was NOT going to happen after a semi-public meltdown.
Dav and Jack were gone when we got home. Dav had planned to take Jack in the stroller over to the gas station and get a newspaper while we were out. They got back 30 minutes after we did. Jack was apparently an angel for his daddy, aside from snubbing the lollipop he was offered. ^_^
Well, I'm not giving up. Next week I'll take just Jack, and the week after that I'll take just Mark again. We just have to keep trying. He doesn't cope well with crowds, or loud noise, or new places. Crowds can be avoided y sitting in the outer hall, or walking in the hall. Loud noises and new places will just have to be gently overcome with repetition and familiarity.
After lunch, we took the boys out to Memorial Park. It has awesome playgrounds, with plenty of shade, unlike the ones here on base; a really huge lake; and great walking paths.
It went ok. Neither of the boys wanted much to do with the actual playground equipment. Mark mostly wanted to hug and climb on the willow trees, and run in circles on the grass by the lake. We had to steer him away from the Canada geese wandering around. ^_^; Jack wandered around the jungle gyms, looking a trifle lost and uncertain, without actually trying to climb on anything. He was unthrilled with being put onto the smallest slides by either me or Dav. He kept silently demanding "Ups" from me. And either he had a bad reaction to his sunblock, or he encountered something in the grass/weeds that he's allergic to, because he was clearly not feeling very well after a little while. Massively running nose, drowsy sickly expression, etc.
After we took a stroll around the lake, with Jack in the stroller and Mark scampering about, we went straight home. Jack got a bath, which seemed to make him feel much better. His nose dried up pretty fast, and he perked up very quickly. I have no idea what caused it; he's used that brand of sunblock before. I may have to switch to something else.
After Mark goes to school, we're doing a recon trip to his ABA therapist's office. They called us late on Friday to reschedule his appointment from Friday morning, to tomorrow at 9 am. Dav's got the morning off so he can watch Jack. I just need to make sure I can find the office.
I decided to take Mark with me to Mass, for the first time since
davner's last deployment. Those prior trips never went well, and until I discovered the housing chapel at Langley had a childcare room (unattended) with a closed-circuit tv so parents could watch the service, we mostly spent Mass walking up and down the hall outside the sacristy, or in the tiny chapel to Mary. (Mark really liked all the statues and candles, but had an unfortunate tendency to climb and try nomming on rosaries.) Peterson's chapel has no such child care room. So since we arrived, I've been leaving the Zodlings with their daddy on Sunday mornings. It gave me a nice little slice of peace and quiet, but I felt bad. One of the few things my parents did right was always taking every one of us along when they attended Mass, and making sure we were appropriately occupied with small toys and religious picture books until we got old enough to pay attention.
Trying to take both the boys at the same time, without a child care room, was an obvious recipe for disaster. I thought about taking Jack first, since he's considerably more cooperative than Mark. But as Dav pointed out, that's not fair to mark' he's the eldest, and shouldn't get passed over for privileges. One of the things that angers me most about the way my aunt raises my cousins is that the elder, who has cerebral palsy, is treated like a child, and a particularly stupid one at that, with few privileges, whereas her four-years-younger sister gets away with murder.
So I took Mark to mass yesterday.
It went really horribly. :;sigh;: At first, he was really eager and bouncy, practically running across the parking lot while holding my hand. He cooperated with the holy water and making the sign of the Cross. And he sat down in the chair in the back hall very obediently. (Overflow seating, with a window into the main church.) We got there right before the priest and altar servers were ready to head inside, so Mark didn't have to wait long.
::sigh:: I was expecting him to require walking up and down the long hallway to the bathrooms for most of the service. I was expecting him to not enjoy some of the singing; his ears are sensitive.
I did not expect a meltdown of such scope and immediacy that we couldn't even stay for the first reading. -_- Not even going into the hallway calmed him. Nor the parking lot. I ended up just taking him home.
He relaxed a little when we got into the car, but started freaking out again when he realized we were going home. Possibly he thought we were going to school, or Culver's. The latter was NOT going to happen after a semi-public meltdown.
Dav and Jack were gone when we got home. Dav had planned to take Jack in the stroller over to the gas station and get a newspaper while we were out. They got back 30 minutes after we did. Jack was apparently an angel for his daddy, aside from snubbing the lollipop he was offered. ^_^
Well, I'm not giving up. Next week I'll take just Jack, and the week after that I'll take just Mark again. We just have to keep trying. He doesn't cope well with crowds, or loud noise, or new places. Crowds can be avoided y sitting in the outer hall, or walking in the hall. Loud noises and new places will just have to be gently overcome with repetition and familiarity.
After lunch, we took the boys out to Memorial Park. It has awesome playgrounds, with plenty of shade, unlike the ones here on base; a really huge lake; and great walking paths.
It went ok. Neither of the boys wanted much to do with the actual playground equipment. Mark mostly wanted to hug and climb on the willow trees, and run in circles on the grass by the lake. We had to steer him away from the Canada geese wandering around. ^_^; Jack wandered around the jungle gyms, looking a trifle lost and uncertain, without actually trying to climb on anything. He was unthrilled with being put onto the smallest slides by either me or Dav. He kept silently demanding "Ups" from me. And either he had a bad reaction to his sunblock, or he encountered something in the grass/weeds that he's allergic to, because he was clearly not feeling very well after a little while. Massively running nose, drowsy sickly expression, etc.
After we took a stroll around the lake, with Jack in the stroller and Mark scampering about, we went straight home. Jack got a bath, which seemed to make him feel much better. His nose dried up pretty fast, and he perked up very quickly. I have no idea what caused it; he's used that brand of sunblock before. I may have to switch to something else.
After Mark goes to school, we're doing a recon trip to his ABA therapist's office. They called us late on Friday to reschedule his appointment from Friday morning, to tomorrow at 9 am. Dav's got the morning off so he can watch Jack. I just need to make sure I can find the office.
