Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Slowly Growing Up


Dear Liz and Ann,

I should be working right now. The kids are at the sitters and I'm rambling around the house taking pictures of flowers and tinkering with knitting projects. My distraction du jour is the loss of our dog Katy. We had to put her down on Friday. It was very sad for us.

We also stepped into the parenting realm of talking to kids about death. We had two extreme reactions. Miss Priss bottles it up and won't say a word. Our little guy can't stop talking about it. He repeatedly (and I mean repeatedly) has asked "Does her back still hurt?" "Does she have her medicine?" "Will they feed her?" "Will they give her water?" and yesterday he ask me if Katy could come to his birthday party.

It's funny how at my "advanced" age I still have moments where I all of the sudden feel like I'm slowly becoming an adult. This has certainly nudged me along.

Now, I really should get to work.

Love,

Mo

3 comments:

Jessica said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. My son (7) still talks a lot about the death of our dog four years ago. It's just his way of processing it.

Ann said...

Mo, that is just terrible. I am so sorry about Katy. Jessica is right, kids process it differently and it is deep work for them, it takes time. Go to the library or bookstore and get the book "The Tenth Good Thing About Barney." Or better yet, give me a call and I'll drive it over. It's one of the best for kids about a pet dying.

We have two cats that are very close to death (although they seem to be hanging on for much longer than anyone ever thought and ages 18 and 15) and R talks about the cats dying incessantly. She says "This is Mingus, she will be dead soon." She has none of the cultural filters yet. And does not understand what in the world it means.

Try reading the book with them - Good luck and snuggle both of the kids for me (and you get one too).

Ann

Liz K. said...

So so sorry about Katy. Miss you.