The Difference Between My Sons

Taking James to choir rehearsal:
James sticks close by my side and avoids any unnecessary contact with strangers. If someone enters the room he doesn't make eye contact until he's checked in with me, and is usually shy about saying hello and explaining who his stuffed animal friends are.

Taking Owen to choir rehearsal:
Owen attempts to crawl out of the choir room and explore the church whenever I set him down. If he does get out the door and sees someone in the hall he rocks back onto his knees, grins, and waves madly at them, then gestures to be picked up.

Giving James my baton while I rehearse the choir:
James exactly mimics the motions that I was making with a look of intense concentration on his face. He attempts to match his movements to the texture of the music and to maintain a proper grip on the base of the baton.

Giving Owen my baton while I rehearse the choir:
Owen holds it like a club and repeatedly hits me over the head with it, smiles delightedly at the choir's reaction, and then continues to take swipes at me with a big grin on his face.

James interrupting the choir:
James waves his hands and stands up next to me, then says in a "rehearsal voice:" "Everybody, that was TOO loud. The music needs to be more quiet after rehearsal J--J is for James. That's what Mater says."

Owen interrupting the choir:
Owen blows raspberries and looks expectantly for a reaction.

Taking James into the Christmas Eve service:
James sits quietly by my side on the pew with George, Steven, and a stack of books. He thumbs through his books as the readings go by, and when we stand to sing a hymn he peers over at my hymnal and sings along if he knows the hymn.

Taking Owen into the Christmas Eve service:
Owen wiggles on my lap and applauds for any and everything that happens in the service--scripture readings, unison confessions, moments of silence, etc. He pretends to conduct during congregational singing, bounces in my arms, pretends to sneeze and bless himself if there is a quiet moment, and eventually wriggles down from my lap. He attempts to play my trumpet, then to get into the box of auxiliary percussion instruments by the organ. He almost knocks over a microphone, and then gets into James' stack of books. He loudly rips one of the pages, then holds it upside down and "reads to himself" out loud during the passage about the baby Jesus.

Conducting the anthem with James in the service:
James sits quietly and looks at his books while I conduct the choir. When I come back to my seat I find that James has shifted into it, He tells me that I need to find a new place to sit.

Conducting the anthem with Owen in the service:
I hand Owen to a responsible adult to be taken out of the service temporarily. He screams bloody murder from outside the sanctuary door in the silence before the music starts. When I cut off the final cadence, he is still audible, screaming bloody murder, albeit from further away. The pastor makes a comment about the line "no crying he makes" being rather unlikely.