My, how they grow

I know it has been quite a while since I last posted. Sorry. Life has been pretty busy. Iris is active as ever and Lowden just never stops being active. Iris had her cardio check-up at the beginning of September. It went great and she does not need to be seen again for another year. He is still baffled that she doesn't eat. I have gotten past being baffled, even frustrated. Now, I just wait.

Iris continues to see her occupational therapist every week. She is adjusting very well. There used to just be the one, but now there is also a student therapist that attends her appointments. They do various things with Iris, having her touch food and pack and unpack their "picnic" bag. She also helps feed the other children, there is one little girl that lets Iris feed her practically anything, its pretty good. But, the spoon never strays to her mouth. She is finally curious about food though. She always wants to touch what is on our plates at supper time, and we allow her to, encourage her to do it. The ladies at day care claim that she may or may not eat behind their backs. Bites of Iris' bread tend to go missing from time to time.

I may not be the MOST devout Catholic, but I pray to God every single day that he help my daughter eat. Someday.

Which brings me to the topic of God, and death and Heaven. This evening on the way home from daycare, Lowden began talking about all of his grandmas. It started when we were talking about our whole names. After going over all the immediate family, he asked what Grandma Marie's full name was. So, I told him and then he asked about others and I told him Grandma Sandy's full name and Grandma Linda and Grandpa Mick in Heaven.

How do you explain death and Heaven to a not-quite 5-year old? How do you make them understand that death is not a light subject and something not to joke about? He has joked about dying from time to time, and it makes me cringe. I know that he has no real grasp of what it actually means, but I want to help him understand it.

Tonight though, we actually had a serious talk about it, and he asked really good questions. I told him that Grandma Linda and Grandpa Mick watch over him from Heaven and that they love him. He asked if someday, he can see them there. I told him that yes, someday he could, but not for a very very long time, and when he is a VERY old man. Do you realize how hard it is to talk about death to your almost 5-year old? Then he went on to ask questions about if you can open your eyes in Heaven and things like that. I told him yes, because Heaven is a different kind of place than Earth and he would be able to play and open his eyes if he wanted to.

It is such a hard topic to talk about with your own child, and especially at such a young age. I am not sure I gave him the answers he needed, but he seemed satisfied and eventually left the subject of death and Heaven to talk about what else....Transformers.