Simon says the darnedest things!

Simon is a walking-talking piece of comic relief. It seems like the words & phrases that trip out of his mouth are intended to be funny. He asks us to 'turn the fire on'. He calls Rachel a 'feather' - I'm still not quite sure what that means exactly. Last night I had him help me tuck Rachel into bed. As I worked on her bed, he sat next to the crib and said, "We need to tell her a pony story." I told him to go ahead with it. His story began simply enough, "One night there was a big rescue pony." Then it began to get a bit funnier. "The big rescue pony was bad, so the policemen were chasing it. The big bad pony went to the bad store to get bad stuff." The story didn't continue. We're left hanging with a cliff-hanger.

Simon is also very sweet to Rachel (besides telling her bed-time stories with no endings). I've been trying to encourage him to be a 'big' boy in the hopes that he'll want to be a big boy & use the potty. So I emphasize that Rachel is little and needs his help & for him to be gentle with her. So we instituted family bed-time prayers. Rachel sits in my lap, Andrew sits in his chair, and Simon eventually climbs into my lap too. He's very good at his prayers now. He does his version of the sign of the cross while saying the words *very* loudly. Our bed-time prayer is the Guardian Angel prayer (Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here. Ever this day be at my side, to light, guard, rule and guide. Amen.). Simon has been hearing this prayer his entire life, but he's just now getting confident enough to say it. The words he hits are impressive & actually add more meaning to the prayer. Somehow he knows the most important parts. He says, "Angel of *God*, my *guardian* dear, to whom *God's love* commits me here. Ever this day, be at my side, to light, *guard*, rule and *guide*." (The starred words indicate ones he says quite loudly). We then do our intentions. He gets to say whoever's names he wants. A lot of the times his choices are very appropriate. The people he lists are often the ones that in my opinion need it most. We also sing "Ode to Joy" nightly. This is something else Simon has heard his entire life; he calls it "Joy, joy". He sings it similarly to how he says the Guardian Angel prayer. His version goes something like this, "*Joy, joy*... adore... *God*... glory... love. Hearts... flowers... Sun above... Clouds... sin and sadness... Dark... away... Immortal gladness... light of day." He doesn't know all the words, but those are the ones he sings consistently. His soft toddler voice is so sweet. As he sings this song to Rachel he climbs into my lap & kisses her during parts that he doesn't know. By the time we're finished he has his forehead pressed to hers. Rachel sits and just absorbs it all. I sit there and my heart swells with gratitude and praise to God for blessing me so abundantly.