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.

Dinner Conversation

I had to make a quick trip to Walmart after getting the boys today so rather than deny them food for the time it takes to bake the chicken I had planned to fix; I got a rotisserie chicken while there. When we got home I fixed cheddar broccoli rice - a quick 10 minutes for something they both eat well and we'd be ready for dinner. While I was fixing the rice, Ethan & Alex were playing right beside the gate (an indication of how hungry they were, I'm sure - trying to be as close to the table as possible). Dinner conversation really started at this point.

I heard Alex babbling and Ethan said, "da wat [rat]? Watigan [Ratigan]? Don't say that word." Alex, "huh? daa, uh” (I'd translate that for you, but I have no idea what he said). Ethan, "Dust don't say that word, Watigan. He's dust a bad wat." (We have digital cable and occasionally will purchase a movie for Ethan if he's been really good and we're really sick of the movies we own. About 2 months ago (or more) we rented "The Great Mouse Detective" in which the villain is a big rat named Ratigan and you were supposed to only whisper his name if you had to say it at all because he was scary and I guess saying the name might make him show up? I didn't pay close enough attention to know why they didn't want to say the word. Anyway, he watched it twice, 2 months ago and remembers it quite well still, apparently.) They continued their babble a few minutes more before I told Ethan he could take the gate down.

Ethan, "It's dinna time, Owix! Yeah, dinna...." He promptly got in his seat and Alex went to stand beside his and looked at me and said "daaa" sort of like "ummm hello, I need your help now please." As I walk towards Ethan, who is now sitting at his seat in front of his plate of chicken, he said "how come you didn't give us wice?" Me: "The rice isn't done yet sweetie. Just a minute more and I'll give it to you but you can start on the chicken." E: "Mmmmm, dis is good chicken. You made good chicken, Mama." (keep in mind, I bought the chicken cooked and basically cut it and put it on his plate - but hey, I'll take it). Me: "I make good dinner, huh? Well good then you should eat every bite." E: "Uh-huh. It's good dinna, Owix. It's yummy for us." (seeing me bringing him the rice) "And here comes the wice. Owix, this is gonna be a weally good dinna." I go to put the pot back on the stove and Ethan says, "we have to say God bless, Mama." (since many prayers start with or contain, "God bless..." (this food or Alex or Ethan) he calls prayers "God bless").

We grasp hands and say grace and you can't even begin to imagine how cute it is to see Alex & Ethan reach across the table to try to hold hands - they can't reach no matter how hard they stretch. I then put Alex's plate in the freezer for a minute to cool the rice and was carrying my plate to the table. Ethan said, "you dust need to cool mine off, too, Mama. You need to put it in the frigahator." So I did - and got myself something to drink; then got both plates out and gave them back to the boys and sat down so we could eat.

I noticed Ethan's milk, which was full when he sat at the table, was now empty. Me: "Did you drink all of your milk already?" E: "Uh-huh. I need some mo moke." (he has a habit of filling up on milk or juice so he won't eat dinner) Me: "Well you need to eat more of your dinner and then I'll get you some more." E: "I don't get chocolate moke at bedtime." Me (thinking, were we talking about chocolate milk?): "No, you don't get chocolate milk at bedtime but if you eat more of your dinner, I'll give you some chocolate milk and then you can have some cookies for dessert." E: "Ok. No, you dust said I could have eem & eem's." (at Walmart he asked for candy and I told him we already had candy at home - M&Ms from Nana. He wanted them and I told him he could have them after dinner.) Me: "Oh, I forgot. I did." E: "I'll eat my dinner and have some eem & eems and chocolate moke...who gave you and Alex, Mama?"

Me: "You tell me. Who gave me Alex?" E: "God did." (Ethan slept with me Saturday and kept telling me as he was going to sleep that he loved me. I told him I loved him, too, and I was glad he was my baby boy and that God had given him to me because he knew I needed him to be my baby boy. We then talked a few minutes about how God gave us Alex and Daddy and put us all together because we would love each other and I'd be a good Mommy for him and Daddy would be a good Daddy and he and Alex would be good baby boys, etc) Me: "That's right." E: "And who gave us Daddy?" Me: "You tell me." E: "Isaiah [the son of his babysitter] did." Me: "Noooo." E (chuckling): "GOD did!" Me: "That's right." E: "He's dust a good God." Me: "Yes, He is." E: "What is God, Mama." Me (thinking he probably had a thought on this already): "Well, what do you think?" E: "He's dust our fwiend and He's dust weally good." Me: "Yes, He is our friend. He is a really good God, huh." E: "Yes, He is a good God and He's our friend and He gave us Daddy and Owix...Owix, is that good chicken?" (ok - like the dessert conversation he is now apparently done with the God conversation so we're moving on.)

Alex eats dinner quite well when you ignore him. As soon as you start talking to him (as Ethan just did), he loses all interest in dinner and is ready to entertain. He continued the conversation all by himself at this point - babbling and laughing with Ethan. I had to tell Ethan a few times to eat so he could have dessert. About halfway into the multiple conversations, I had realized I would be blogging about this tonight. Partly because it was really cute but also to explain that it dawned on me why it takes Ethan so long to eat dinner. He is too busy socializing to eat. He has your undivided attention because all you are doing is eating so he can get some good QUALITY talk time in and he is quite the chatterbox as I've mentioned. I have the sneaking suspicion Alex will be the same way when he can really talk instead of babble & grunt. But the conversation wasn't done at that point.

Nope - we just went full circle... E: "Mama, you make weally good dinna. Dis is dust yummy." To prove his point he picked up a fistful of rice and shoveled it in and licked his fingers. I didn't complain about not using a fork because he HAD been using the fork and honestly this got a bigger bite in his mouth and sped up the process. Alex did allow me to feed him a couple more bites of rice and most of his chicken between bursts of laughter and babbling with his brother. Ethan said one more time, "Owix, isn't dis good dinna." Alex shook his head "yes." Such sweet boys and such nice dinner conversation - even if it was all over the map.

Kids say the sweetest things & Mama's a clutz

So Mama got sick for Christmas - a horrible cough and very hoarse and just didn't feel very good.  But Ethan & Alex were both healthy (or on the mend anyway in the case of Ethan) so I didn't complain too loudly.  I never had a fever or anything - possibly a sinus infection but too much to do to make Christmas extra special to stop for a doctor visit so I'm slowly recovering and the cough is lessening.  This could be due to the frequent check-ups Ethan is giving me with his new kit.  Or it could be due to the sweetest things he says sometimes.  The other night we said prayers - I think this was Christmas Eve actually and at the end we said the "God bless Ethan & Alex..."etc part and at the end before he said "Amen" Ethan said "& help Mama to get better."  He said it and smiled at me and said "Amen & kisses Mama"....he is such a sweet boy - that was so sweet.  The next night he said it again and since he coughed in the middle, he prayed for him to get better, too.  That boy is just too cute.

Alex tends to fall over when he gets tired...he totally comes by that naturally and today was total proof....after naptime, Steve fixed the outlet in the living room so the lightswitch would again work the lamps in the room.  Then I tried to run an extension cord to the other lamp & in doing so, I bumped the corner shelf on top of which stands our 2.5 foot tall unity candle my dad made for us.  I realized this only after the candle fell on my head. 

Grace & Prayers

We're trying to develop good family habits.  Now that we have a nice family dinner table (thanks to a beautiful hand-me-down from Aunt Katie), we try to have everyone eat meals together in the kitchen (rather than in front of the TV - the old norm for us) - when the work schedules permit, we even get to do this for dinner.  We also want to say Grace before we eat.  We did this twice, holding hands, before Ethan started saying as he sits down "say Grace, we got to say Grace."  OK, so we're off to a good start on that habit.  So then it comes to the decision - what do you say as Grace that a 3 year old (and younger) can understand and say.  So rather than the "Bless us, oh Lord...." or "God is Great..." we mostly use a shortened version we came up with ourselves as Ethan doesn't quite have the attention span to do something long nor can he easily remember it.  We start by holding hands (in Alex's case, we hold his high chair tray if we can't reach his hands) and then Ethan looks expectantly at us.  He wants to start but needs the first word before he can get it together...here's what we typically say:  God, thank you for this food and for keeping us safe today.  Amen.  So I'll start (looking at Ethan)
Me:  "God"                                                             Ethan:  "God"
Me (or me & Steve):  "Thank you for this food"           Ethan:  "thank you for food"
Me (or & Steve):  "and for keeping us safe"
All together:  "Today.  Amen"
Ethan basically does repeat after me version until the end where he leaves off "and for keeping us safe" and chimes in on "Today, Amen" - really cute.

Now let's review the bedtime routine.  As most nights (all but 2 nights a week really) Steve (aka Daddy) is at work at bedtime (which I have somewhat firmly dictated as 8:00pm), this is pretty much my routine.  I make Alex a bottle and get Ethan a cup of milk or juice then give Ethan both his and Alex's drinks and he carries them upstairs while I get Alex and carry him or let him crawl up the stairs (depending on how tired he is).  I turn on the light and put Alex in his crib with his bottle and he lays right down and takes it - when we first started this process, that part worked until the bottle was empty and then the screaming began.  Thankfully, we're over that stage.  Then I turn to Ethan - do you need to pee?  "No"..."go pee anyway" (all parents know he really had to go and 2 seconds after I leave, he'd come back out and have to go)....Now we're back in his room and he's back in bed having peed cause yes, he did have to.  He lays down and we say prayers, similar to dinner - he looks at me expectantly for that first word.
Me:  Now I lay me...........................Ethan:  Now I lay me
Together:  Down to sleep.  I pray the Lord (pronouced Yord) my soul to keep.  Angels watch me through the night, till I wake with morning light.  God Bless Ethan and baby Alex (which used to be pronounced Aggy and is now pronounced Owix), and Mama & Daddy & Amma (Grandma) & Paga (Grandpa) & Nana & all my aunts and uncles and all my cousins and baby pete (the bunny rabbit) and everyone I love, Amen.
Now if he wants to stay up or stretch this, he'll start naming other people, too which usually goes something like this:
Ethan:  and Aunt Megan, and Uncle Dermy (Jeremy) and Kenzie &....
Me:  and who else
Ethan: and Dackson & Dylan &
Me:  & everyone else you love
Ethan:  & everyone else I love
Me:  Kisses (he gives me kisses - which is sometimes followed by blowing kisses to all those named if he's really not tired enough yet, which thankfully wasn't the case tonight as Mama was tired enough)
Now Ethan has added something new - I'm not sure where he picked it up but if I forget, he's quick to remind me (even if it means coming out of his room to say):  You forgot sweet dreams Mom!  After kisses on the lips, I have to give forehead kisses and say "sweet dreams" so he can say "sweet dreams, Mom".  If I forget to say "thank you baby, I love you, good night" - he repeats himself thinking I didn't hear:  I said Sweet Dreams, too, Mom. As I leave and turn off the lights, he's saying "love you too Mom" ... Gotta love that little boy - even if a lot of it is a ploy to stay up even 30 more seconds, it's  still so cute I can't stand it. 
There has been a time or 2 when he's in trouble and is sent to bed, no tucking in.  He will cry a bit and then when he thinks enough time has passed that Mama won't be mad anymore, he comes out saying "we forgot to say pwayers"....so he'll come in here and say them and reluctantly go back to bed.  So it seems we're off to a good start on nighttime prayers as well.