We had quite an interesting Easter weekend. DW and I decided that our boys needed to see each other after 6 weeks apart, so yesterday we packed up Younger Son and a load of Easter presents and drove to Alexandria, LA. YS and I played hard in the motel pool and at McDonald's last night. This morning we drove to Older Son's school for Easter Mass. I expected that YS would be ga-ga over seeing OS again, but that OS would ignore YS. I was half right -- they both totally ignored each other the whole time we were together.

YS really wanted to put his hands on the crucifix that was carried in the processional. He ran over to the door before the processional began, then tried to run up the center aisle during mass itself. Nobody minded him running around, as the service was designed for MR/DD children. YS also tried to get to the keyboard, but DW stopped him in time. OS stayed quietly with me the whole time. The reading for the service didn't come from the scriptures, but from a large picture book about Easter. As the nun read from the book, I could swear I heard OS say "Jesus" a couple of times during a string of his jargon. My favorite part of the service was when the priest walked up and down the center aisle with a mic, letting the kids say whatever they wanted. The music was nice, and one of the female students sang a couple of simple solos. It was the first church service we've been to together as a family since May 2001, and maybe the first one ever to hold the kids' interest the whole time.

After church, we went to WalMart and McDonalds, then back to the school. OS sobbed and cried when we got back, but he put my hand on the seatbelt buckle and said "bye-bye, car!" to let me know he wanted the separation to go quickly. I really hope that the crying and sobbing phase goes away quickly. He's fine 10 minutes after we leave, but it kind of leaves a hole in my heart to see that. The dorm mom thinks our departures are a little harder for OS because he's much closer to us than some of the other kids are to their parents. She's nice, that gal.