Little Things Count

MLB is about to lose another tooth. This is significant. It'll be his fourth tooth gone.

It'll be the first tooth we parents can anticipate.

That tooth is so loose, it's almost lying sideways across his emerging primary incisors.

MLB is preparing for his first sacraments of Reconciliation and Communion this year, so I'm trying even harder to get him to pay attention to & participate in Mass. We use the "Magnifikids" weekly missalettes, but he is more interested in working the puzzles than following the Mass. Today he refused to stand for the entrance hymn and came close to pitching a fit if I didn't give him a pen right then & there for the puzzle. I had to whisper to him that the right thing to do was to participate in Mass, not do the puzzle; I told him that he was mad because I was telling him to do the right thing and not letting him do what he wanted to do. I told him that it's the same way God is with us; He tells us the right things to do but we want to do our own things, even if those aren't right, and we get mad. That got MLB's attention and he stood up. MLB loves God and wants to please Him. When MLB returned from Children's Liturgy of the Word, he asked what time would Communion be? (During my contemplation after receiving Eucharist is when I allow him to do the puzzle.) I told him there is no "time" by the clock, but a proper order, and he needs to follow along, again, in the Magnifikid.

Preparing a child with autism for anything outside his immediate focus of interest and outside of his comfort zone is not easy. The sacraments are important, so there is always this onus weighing subconsciously in the back of MLB's mind. He is a bit more aggitated in his behavior this year because if it.

I pray, often, for God to help him prepare this year. God reminds me that even I didn't really comprehend the importance of my first sacraments at that age; I just knew the basic facts, the prayers I was required to memorize. Funny, but I remember another third-grader & I once referring to the consecrated host as our "Good Pill," since as we got further away from Sunday, our behavior seemed to get worse. How childlike.

God tries His best to reassure me that everything, especially my son, is in His hands. He assures me that He is with my son in ways I won't perceive. I must continue to instruct my son, be a good example for my son and pray for my son. He'll do the rest, to bring the Wisdom into MLB's heart that growing in God will bring, just like in today's first reading, Wisdom 6:16, "For (Wisdom) herself searches everywhere for those who are worthy of her, benevolently appearing to them on their ways, anticipating their every thought."

So after the Agnus Dei and while the extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist are preparing to distribute Communion, MLB whispers to me. "What?" I ask, "Your shy poof?" Whisper. "Your shoe is goop?" It's not easy to hear him, as we sit right by the choir & the piano.

"My tooth is loose."

Well. God is with him.