Prayers....

I've mentioned before that we say prayers (or "God Bless" as Ethan calls it) before bed and before meals.  Alex is even into this now.  When we sit down to eat, we all hold hands and he really likes that part.  Ethan or Alex will typically even reach for hands to say "God Bless" if we're eating out.  It's really pretty sweet.

Steve & I apparently said different forms of Grace growing up as depending on which of us started grace at our house, we'd use a different blessing.  This, as you can imagine, was difficult for Ethan to grasp.  He wanted to say "God Bless" but which version - what is he supposed to say exactly.  Nana sent a book of children's prayers several months ago and the perfect solution was in that book.  A version of Grace made specially for children that Ethan really likes and is easy to remember:

Thank You for the world so sweet.
Thank You for the food we eat.
Thank You for the birds that sing.
Thank You, Lord, for everything!
Amen.

Ethan can do this entirely by himself now and having seen how his daddy & I pray (typically with our heads bowed and sometimes with eyes closed), he is now mimicking this behavior as well.  Last night he was very proud of himself for putting his head down and closing his eyes AND saying Grace and getting it all right.  He even added "and for Baby Pete [his pet bunny]".  He really likes saying Grace and this one is really cute.

He likes bedtime prayers even more I think and constantly adds to it.  Alex now usually watches Ethan & me as we say prayers and THEN lays down to go to sleep (or gets a kiss first and then lays down, but he won't ask for the kiss before the prayer which is cute, too).  Bedtime prayers go something like this:

Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Angels watch me through the night.
Till I wake with morning light.
God bless Ethan & Owix; Mama & Daddy; Amma, Paga & Nana; all my aunts & uncles; all my cousins; everybody I love; & my fish & baby Pete. 
Amen.

The cutest part is when he throws in a little additional prayer like "and let us go to Paga's house" or "and thank you for the snow" [in winter of course] or "and for Bumblebee" [toy Transformer he is currently infatuated with]. 

Last night though I think he summed up what all of us are thinking right about now: 

... God bwess Efan & Owix, Mama & Daddy, Amma, Paga & Nana, all my aunts & uncles, all my cousins, everybody I love & Baby Pete & my fish and let us go to the BEACH, too!

Couldn't have said it better myself.