Prayers and Poems

Kiddo is still not feeling well. He spent most of the day feeling better, but then his fever spiked around 4:00 PM; and since he'd only slept today for about 30 minutes in the car, we put him to bed early. He and I have a special prayer we say every night that goes something like this: "Thank you God for this wonderful day, and all the people I got to meet, all the food I got to eat, and everybody that I love. Amen!" He's gotten to a point where he's got it memorized and can recite it on his own without my help; though I usually follow along anyway because I like to say prayers with my son. Tonight, however, I started him off as usual, and he took it and ran away, with something to the effect of: "Thank you God (that's both of us, and I stopped helping here) for this wonderful day, and apple juice, and blue juice (blue Gatorade or Powerade), and food, and everybody that I love. Amen! Amen!" It took every ounce of restraint I posessed not to burst out laughing (with pride, of course), but I was grinning like mad. The boy knows what's important! The other thing I wanted to share today is a poem that makes me think of my Grandma, Tennie. She read to me all the time when I was growing up and some of the books I've purchased for Kiddo, I've gotten because she used to read them to me. This one is from "A Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson.

MY SHADOW

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.

He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head,

And I see him jump before me when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow -

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;

For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,

And sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,

And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.

He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;

I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning very early, before the sun was up,

I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;

But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,

Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

TTFN JMS