So things are a little better since my last post.  My grief goes in waves and so when I wrote that last one I must have been at the lowest spot on the wave. :)  

On Sunday we went to church as we usually do but this Sunday was a little different than most.  I have started going to a class that discusses the book, The Purpose of Christmas by Rick Warren.  It's my first Sunday School class and I think I'm really going to enjoy it. I get less and less excited for Christmas each passing year, mainly because it always involves more and more work, and so it'll be nice to be reminded of what Christmas is truly about.  Along with my new class, Cale is now eligible to attend the two's and three's Sunday school class.  This milestone is bittersweet for me because it means that one, he's getting older and growing out of my sweet baby boy and two, it's just another reminder of how different he is from his peers.  Alex volunteered to go with Cale to his class since he can't really do anything by himself.  The format of the class usually involves singing songs, sitting in a circle while someone teaches a story from the Bible, then some sort of craft followed by a snack.  Cale can sit and listen to the story but that's about it, or at least without any help.  

Poor Alex...I'm not sure he was emotionally ready to see Cale in a mix of normal developing kids his age.  I'm around Cale more often when he's around other kids and so I'm a little more used to it; it still hurts but I've developed a pretty thick skin, or so I think.  Alex said Cale did great - he walked in a circle with everyone while they sang a song, he sat quietly and listened to the story, tried to eat his goldfish and water with everyone else at the table, and even managed to scribble a streak of blue crayon on the craft Christmas ornament.  Alex, on the other hand, was reminded in a huge way of how different Cale is from his peers.  Although the other kids were not mean to Cale, they certainly noticed his differences and asked questions of why he is the way he is.  It sounds like Alex handled all of the questions magnificently but even I would have had a hard time being in that situation.  I know as Cale gets older the questions will come more and more often but I suppose we'll just cross that bridge when we get there.  

You can bet one thing is for sure, though - the Christmas ornament that Cale made is going to be front and center on our tree.  I've never been so proud of a scribbled streak of blue crayon.