latestgailcd-003.jpgEvery night before singing Kaiya her final song and saying goodnight, I pray for her. I've done this pretty much every night since she was born. A few months ago, in an attempt to rush through our bedtime routine due to the late hour, I forgot to say the prayer. She looked up at me and said, "Mama, say payer." I was disappointed that of all the things she had to remind me of it was the prayer, but in the process realized that maybe she would like to start saying her own prayers.

We started out slow by me saying a really simple prayer and Kaiya would repeat after me. I would say something like, "Thank you God for daddy, for mama, for baby brother… and so on," and Kaiya would repeat. However recently Kaiya has taken the initiative to tell God what she is thankful for and I no longer prompt her. Hearing what she is thankful for is so sweet and also extremely funny. Her usual prayer goes something like this:

latestgailcd-011.jpg"Sank you God sor (for) heart sheets. Sank you God sor tissues to bow Kaiya's nose. Sank you God sor…uuummm…heart sheets. Sank you God sor piwoh (pillow). Sank you God sor…uuuummm…bear, bunny, meh-meh (her loveys). Sometimes she throws in family members and sometimes not.

However, the other night, after a LONG and frustrating day of putting her in timeouts and trying to sooth a cranky baby, I had had about enough of my parenting role and it was all I could do to get through the bedtime routine with Kaiya. During her prayer time she rattled off the things she wanted to thank God for, which was very similar to the list above. When I thought she was finished I asked her if that was all. She told me no and continued to look around her room to see what else she could be thankful for. Finally, her eyes locked with mine and she said, "Sank you God sor…uuuummm…," and she took her little hands and cupped them around my face, and proclaimed with the biggest smile, "Mama!"

With that one little word and the sweetest smile, Kaiya made the really bad day completely worth while.