Say a Little Prayer for Me...

Langston has joined us (we all pray) or lead prayer many times at the dinner table. He recently had a memorable prayer, though. It began as it does sometimes, "Dear God...[thanks for our family, friends, a few more thoughts]." Then came the funny part, "God, bless your heart. And I pay the money." Of course, at the familiar phrase, "bless your heart," I almost lost it, but when he followed it with, "I pay the money," I couldn't stifle the laughter anymore. Neither could Barclay. He said, "Amen." And we congratulated him on a job well done. We also explained that sometimes he said things that were so sweet, cute, or special, that we had to smile and laugh. He's a pretty sensitive guy, so I hope we didn't hurt any feelings. I would also like to add that this isn't the first time we have had this thoughtful praying. He does thank God for "helping the children, our house, milk," various foods before him, any friends with whom he has interacted that day, and specific toys.
During the month of November, we were really trying to get him to sleep "by self." This was our first real attempt in IL and to kick it off, I bought him a safety rail (that attaches to his bed), which he calls his "tent" (bc of the mesh fabric?). So the first few nights, his "tent" was awesome. He'd say that I could "go away" bc he had his "tent," he'd be fine. A few nights later, he changed his mind. We began the "monsters are in my room" thing. Urg. He isn't allowed to watch things with shooting, bad words, hitting, etc., so I haven't a clue where the "monster" thing came from.
Well, he and I had just finished reading through one of his New Testament story books. He had lots of questions about miracles, bringing people back from the dead, and that sort of thing. He did understand the basic principles of Jesus and prayer, though, and he enjoyed talking about that. I told him that he could talk to God anytime...happy, sad, thankful, scared, etc. So one night after I put him down and went back to my room, I heard on the monitor, "Hey Jesus...and God. I know you're magic. My mom got me a new Heffalump movie. It's got Pooh. She got it for my pooping. [A rental reward for going potty.] So, I know you're magic. You wanna' come watch it with me?" This prayer continued for a while. And he continued to pray like that, at night, for a while. Out of the mouths of babes...