Molly Says her Prayers

During the season of Lent we have added praying a decade of the rosary to our evening routine.  We started this a couple of years ago, and the kids have really come along.  Both boys take part without fits of stubbornness that we have seen in previous years.  Will prefers to lead off and has been known to have us say a second decade just to make sure he gets his starring role.  We will work on humility next Lent.

The nice addition this year is that Molly is more aware of prayers.  She will cross herself and fold her hands.  One day at dinner I realized she was imitating my motions and so I put my finger tips to my head in a devout pose, and she mimicked the action exactly.  It was precious. So, therefore, I have continued to do this at nearly every meal ever since. 

Well, she has not mastered the words to the prayers, but her part in our family rosary is to pass out the beads and then to collect them at the end.  Which she does quite enthusiastically.  I use to think that she started to collect them when she saw me drop them into my palm after the final "Hail Mary".  But, the other day we realized that she is paying attention to the words and knew when we were finishing.  She had been sitting on my lap snuggling until the moment we started the "Glory Be".  She immediately popped up, and held out her hand expectantly.  I had not changed the way I had held my Rosary, she just knew that prayer signified that our devotion was coming to a close and the beads were no longer needed as an aide for keeping track of how many prayers had been said. 

As I read over what I just typed, it may have been a case of "you had to be there" to appreciate the significance of that act.  But, as Eric's and my eyes met as she did that, it was a reminder to both of us that our babies don't stay babies forever and that they are learning and developing much quicker than we realize.  I just hope we can keep up!