There was a stretch when Stella was tiny and the boys were 3, 6, 9, and 12 when it was easy to manage Mass with five childen. I wrote about it here, which is lucky because otherwise I might have thought it was an illusion -- sheer wishful thinking.
These days it is not at all easy to manage Mass with five children, because one of them is -- well, vigorous is the adjective that springs to mind. She sings the opening hymn vigorously, only she does it during the penitential rite. She sings the alleluia vigorously, only she prefers to do so during the homily. She vigorously registers her opinion that a Sunday Mass is about twice as long as she would like it to be.
She would like to nurse about 20 times per Mass, please. With my boys the second year was the time when we worked on "nursing is for our house." Stella wishes to remind the WORLD, or at least our entire parish, that one of the advantages of nursing is its portability. "Nana! Nana nana nana nana beeese!"
I've been trying to get to daily Mass occasionally this fall but I had honestly forgotten how hard it can be with a toddler, when you don't have the cover that other noisy toddlers provide on Sunday. How soon do I take her out when she is chanting "Boom boom boom!"? Am I teaching her to be noisy if I take her out as soon as she ramps up the volume? Should I have a different standard if I go to the school Mass, where an important goal is to teach the kids about appropriate behavior? Was I just imagining a dirty look accompanying the proclamation "the body of Christ" when I got to the front of the communion line? Oh, I hope I was imagining the dirty look.
Recent Comments