Heaven?

How do you explain heaven to a 3 year old?  A nosey questioning 3 year old who follows up nearly every comment with WHY?  *sigh*  it’s hard.

 

Tony’s best friend Greg passed away this weekend. He has been sick for a year now with cancer, and while it’s not surprising, it is still a shock.  Greg wasn’t married and had no close family. So we have taken in his cat, Zoe.  Tony is a cat person, and couldn’t stand the thought of the cat being put in a shelter and possibly put down.  It’s the least we could do. 

 

So, now we have a new cat and Emily keeps asking why we have this new cat.  I’ve explained that Uncle Greggy (her name for him) is going to live in Heaven now with Baby Jesus.  But she keeps asking WHY?  I told her that Jesus missed him and wanted him to come live with him in heaven and now Baby Jesus was going to keep Uncle Greggy pretty busy and so we told Greg not to worry, we would take care of Zoe for him.  And that it was Emily’s job to give the kitty lots of hugs and kisses, so  the kitty doesn’t miss Greg.  Now Emily wants to know why Baby Jesus is playing with Greg and not HER.  *oh good grief!*    I don’t know how to do this!  And as is the case for most things, she has to hear the same answer 37 times before she believes it.  Which is hard on ME and T because every time I talk about it, I start to cry.   

 

Any advice?  Em will be 4 in Feb and she is so smart and sharp. I don’t want to freak her out and tell her that Greg was sick and then he died. (because truthfully, we tell Emily that I am sick a lot lately, because of the pregnancy. I’m not anywhere near sick like Greg was, but she is 3! Sick is sick in her book, ya know?)   Any advice is welcome.  I’m just at a loss.

 

 

 

 

Emily's Baby

Emily is convinced the baby is HER baby.  It’s pretty cute. She talks about it like this “ When MY baby comes, she can sleep in big girl bed with me.”  “when MY baby comes, I hug her and put her in the toilet. Maybe she be a poopyhead.”   The kid cracks me up. 

 

She is also INSISTENT that the baby is a sister.  We have no idea what it is yet. I asked her once, “Em, what if it’s a boy?”  She looked at me and said “ A BOY?!?!  NO!  It’s a sister!”   OK then.   We’ll find out next month boy or girl, so hopefully we still have time to convince her that boys are ok if need be.  

 

And just this morning she puts her hands on my belly and shouts into it “ HEY BABY!  You happy in there?”   She then tells me and T that she wants to put the baby in a stroller and take it for a walk.   Soooo cute!

 

 

 

Our BIG news!!

Well some major changes have been happening over at the homestead.  The biggest news by far is that Emily is going to be a BIG SISTER!!!   I’m due on May 12.   We haven’t found out yet if it’s a boy or a girl, but we should find out, I hope, before Christmas.  We are all very excited.  Emily has been very funny, talking about “my baby” and how the baby will sleep with her in her new big girl bed.   We showed her the last ultrasound pics and she went on and on about how cute her baby is. HA HA HA  I know that when the baby actually arrives it’s going to be different, but for now we are talking up what a great big sister she is going to be and how much fun it is to be a BIG kid and how many things she can do that a baby can’t. (like eat pizza, color, go to the swings, etc) 

 

 

Here is a picture I took of her this morning. Can you BELIEVE how old she looks now??? Gone is my baby girl.  Still, the dimples get me every time.  This morning I was leaving her at day care and as I turned to go she shouted MOMMY!  I turned quick and she comes running to me, KISSES! and holds up her little face.  She walks around with my heart in her hands and has no idea!!