I was sitting here this morning, finally with a chance to check my email after a very hectic weekend, and S came up to me. She had her monkey and a doll blanket in her hands and said, “Mommy, how do I put this blanket on my monkey?”
I glanced down at my freshly-painted nails (which is odd in the first place, because I paint the girls’ nails more often than I paint my own) and explained, “I can’t help you right now – mommy’s fingers are all wet.”
After a few minutes of trying to do it herself and fussing at me for help, I gave in. I took the monkey and the blanket in my hands and gingerly tried to wrap him up. As I put the first side flap around the monkey, S cried out again, “Not right now, Momma, he’s not cold!” I just had to laugh. I handed her the monkey and blanket back, and off she trotted, pleased as punch. Sometimes I just don’t know what’s going on in their little minds.
This will be a boring post without pictures, but my Sister-in-law takes fabulous pics, so I plan to get them from her. We had a family reunion this last weekend for my husband’s family. Mom and Dad, their four kids, their four spouses, and eight grandkids filled up a whole house. We had a blast. We also got to make a trip to Great-Grandma and Grandpa’s farm. There we all said good-bye to my husband’s Great-Grandma, who has been suffering with Alzheimer’s for years, and who lately took a turn for the worse. I was so proud of L, who walked right up to her, lying asleep in the bed in her front room, and talked to her. L has such a loving and sensitive heart.
We had only been home two days when we got the word that Grandma had passed. Lucky for us, we don’t live far away, and the rest of the family hadn’t gone back home from the reunion, yet, so we had a Family Reunion Part 2 this weekend, with all the extended family. Grandma’s funeral went well. The flowers were pretty, and I’m told the musical number (which my husband and I got roped into) was very nice.
I’ve been so used to having children too young to understand what’s going on, I didn’t think to prepare L for the funeral – more than telling her that Grandma had died and we were going to her funeral. At the family viewing beforehand, she saw Grandma in the coffin, and her curiosity had to be satisfied. C took her up to see Grandma and tried to gently explain that she was dead, and her spirit was with Jesus. L came back with tears streaming down her face, sobbing. It broke my heart. We had a whispered lesson on how the body and spirit work, and how, while Grandma’s body will be in the box in the ground, her spirit isn’t there. L was so concerned about burying someone in the ground. Then we talked about how we can all be together again after we’re dead, so even though we’re saying good-bye to Grandma for now, we’ll see her again someday. She seemed to understand, and her sobbing stopped.
I didn’t know Grandma before Alzheimer’s took her, so I didn’t feel much loss at her death (after all, she’s happier where she is now), but seeing L in tears did it for me, and I ended up crying a little anyway.
So, that’s where we’ve been and what we’ve been up to. If I survive taking the Cub scouts to Day Camp today, I just might get some pics from my sister-in-law and post them.
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