Prayer Time

I don't know about your house, though I suspect this will sound very familiar to all of you with young children, but prayer time before bed at our house is...let me try to find the right adjective...surprising? exhausting? hilarious? frustrating?...we'll go with lively.

It usually begins with tired Fisher whining to be on the parent's lap that he isn't already on. If he's on my lap, he pathetically whines DA-dee and likewise, when he's on Rick's lap he whines MO-mee. Over and over again. Last night as we knelt, he was on my lap, but got a little mixed up.

Whining Fisher: MO-mee...MO-mee...
Annoyed Me: You have Mommy!
Surprised Fisher: Mommy?!

When he's willing to say his own prayer, the repeat pattern goes something like this (let me remind you, he's not exactly a wordsmith yet--we say more of a soundsmith):

Heavenly
"Mommy"
Say Heavenly,
"Mommy"
Father,
"Mommy"
No, say Father,
"Mommy"
I'm thankful for Mommy,
"Mommy"
I'm thankful for Daddy,
"Daddy"
I'm thankful for Brayden,
"Uh UH"
Maddie,
"UH Uh" (though last night he called her "Didi")
Connor,
"UH UH" (getting gruntier now)
and Logan,
"UHH UH"
Help me to sleep
"Ha-shh" (snore sound)
well
"Well"
and be nice
"Nie" (accompanied by his leaning hug/I'm sorry motion)
In the name...
"Name"
of Jesus
"Ah-Ehhm!"
Jesus
"Ee-Uh"
Christ
"Ah-EHHM!"
Say Christ
"Aii"
Amen.
"AH-EHHM!!" (bouncing up & down and expecting cheers)

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the words he chooses to speak versus grunt from one night to the next. Generally, his prayer is accompanied by peals of laughter from Connor, usually in response to how Fisher interpreted his (Connor's) name that night, and everyone else's prayers are said amid Fisher struggling to escape the lap he is on and attempting to "wake up" the people within his reach by whatever means he can conjure. It's such a spiritual time of day.