Minor miracles

I may be speaking too soon, but it looks like my behavior-challenged boy may have made it through his two weeks of religious education "camp" with everybody's nerves intact.

This is an improvement over last year, when they asked me to pick him up an hour-and-a-half early every day because that's all they could take. Well, that's not what they said. They said that's all he could take. But I knew what they meant.

This year, he's stayed the whole three-and-three-quarters hours every day without incident. Part of it is that he's more mature. Part of it is that he has a teacher who's not freaked out by him. But most of it is that, instead of having a stray teenager as an aide, he has a paid adult. Paid by us. And worth every penny.

Last year, I did ask his school one-on-one aide if she'd like a couple of weeks extra work. She said no, and I let it go at that. This year, I asked her to help me find someone who would. She hooked us up with another one-on-one from the school, who is doing a fine job (augmented excellently by a very loyal friend who took the first two days while the school aide was still at school). My son's teacher has remarked how having the aide keeps Andy focused, so that he gets something out of the class and all the other kids do, too.

Personally, just our secret, I'm happy if he's just there being nondisruptive. If he learns something, that's gravy. For him, just to be included without incident is enormous.

So today is the last day, and barring a major blow-up at the final ceremonies, we've pulled it off. He's pulled it off, my great little guy. And maybe this means he can pull off all the First Communion and First Reconciliation training, too. Maybe he'll eventually sit still in church, participate in the Mass, stay quiet during Sunday School.

Maybe I better check into hiring that aide full-time.