One night recently,  as my wife, my son and I lay on our bed, I suggested, “Let’s pray this way tonight – I’ll pray for Jadon, Jadon prays for Mama, and Mama prays for Papa.” “

“No, I want to pray for you”, my son said. (There are certain things where he prefers me, and others where he prefers the mother)

So I said, “Fine, so you’ll pray for me, I pray for Mama, and Mama prays for you.”

“No. I’ll pray for you and you’ll pray for me,” clearly indicating his preference for me this time.

“What about Mama?” I asked.(Mama had been silent all this time, probably wondering if all the effort spent in cooking healthy, nutritious yet yummy food for him was worth the while)

And my son replied, “Erm…we need one more person then.”

There was only three of us in the family.

Those days, we simply prayed while he lie on his bed and closed his eyes. As he grew older, he started praying in bits and pieces on his own. He also requested that we pray for this issue and that.   One funny request I recall was to pray that he won’t grow up! (Of course footywife and I never said “AMEN” to that!)

Of late, we just need to start the prayer off with, “Dear Lord…”, and he would continue the rest of the prayers from there.

Few nights ago at bedtime, as per routine, I said, “Let’s pray.”

Guess what? He said matter-of-factly, “No need. I told GOD GOD {sic} last night that whatever I have prayed before, He would remember and I do not need to ever pray them again.”

Now I have dealt with “Blanket Approvals” in the corporate world before, but this is my first spiritual enlightenment about BLANKET PRAYERS!

I stumbled onto this blog HOT THINGS DEAR today and was overjoyed to find an article describing the little animals.

So they are called Pygmy Tarsiers!

Now I can’t wait for my little son to wake up tomorrow to show off my new-found knowledge!

Of them, one brings particular memory of how I started our son on singing (I am waiting for my wife to correct me on this!), and that is “EDELWEISS“.

When our son Jadon was younger (he’s turning 3 in a month’s time), we used to (are still) pat him to bed. And as I did so, I would sing him either “Edelweiss” or a very dated Chinese song called “Mo Li Hua”.

And as I sang to him, I would intentionally leave out the last word/syllable of each line for him to fill up. And he would almost always sing it correctly.

Here’s how it goes :

Edel “weiss”
Edel “weiss”

Every morning you greet “Me”
Small and “white”
Clean and “bright”
You look happy to meet “me”

Blossom of snow may you bloom and “grow”
Bloom and grow fore”ver”

Edel”weiss”
Edel”weiss”
Bless my homeland fore”ver”

Now, this cheeky little monster can not only sing the full songs, but has also started twisting the lyrics of songs to suit his own “creativity”!

Anyway, my wife text me just now to say that my son kept asking to talk to me. So I sneaked away from the midst of dinner and make a call home.

“Papa can you come home please?” , “Papa can you come home NOW please?” were what he kept saying when the line got through. I believe you will be able to empathise with how it tugs at my heart ;(

And what a contrast to the article by my wife when my son hardly mentioned me when I was away!

Strange…children are sometimes so unpredictable…and doesn’t that make them even more cute & lovable & sometimes…irritable as well?

I have a feeling he will say the same thing when I call tomorrow.

I have grown up listening to the ‘less sinister" version where the first pig ran to the second pig’s house, and subsequently ran together to the third and more illustrious pig’s house, where they then boiled the big bad wolf in hot water for a happy ending.

But I am told the "eaten up" version is the original. And that in some versions, the third pig actually cooks and eats the wolf up in some sort of revenge!

Not sure about you, but I sure prefer the HAPPY ENDING version of the THREE LITTLE PIGS!