Selective Prayers

The boys take turns each night saying prayers before going to bed. Rix says them all by himself, and it usually involves saying silly things, like thanking Heavenly Father for cookies or baseball or Happy Meals. Bryce can say them by himself, but will ask for help on occassion, usually in the middle of prayer. He'll say "and thank you for....(in whisper) what am I supposed to say?". And Cole will say prayers too, which is really cute, but he still gets a little help.

Anyway, the other night I was helping Bryce in the middle of prayer. I would say what he needed to say, and he would repeat it. I like this because it teaches them to say things I want them to say, like thankful for our jobs, and bless them to be good sleepers and stuff. The prayer went something like this:

Me: Thank you for mommy and daddy and Rix and Bryce and Cole.

Bryce: Thank you for mommy and daddy and Rix and Bryce, I mean me, and Cole.

Me: Thank you for our house and our food.

Bryce: Thank you for our house and our food.

Me: Bless us to be good boys tomorrow.

Bryce: Bless us to be good boys tomorrow.

Me: Bless us to be good listeners for mommy tomorrow.

Bryce: ..........

Me: (thinking he didn't hear me): Bless us to be good listeners for mommy tomorrow. (Pause - did he fall asleep? I open my eyes to see what he's doing.

Bryce is looking at me, with this blank stare, and the look on his face is confused. I repeat the line again "Bless us to be good listeners for mommy tomorrow" saying it a little slower and enunciated, maybe his confused look made me think he didn't understand, although it was pretty self-explanatory.

Then, Bryce looks at me again, and shakes his head. "I'm not going to say that." Great.