I know. I know. I'm a bad blogger. Work, school and extra curriculuar activities just keep pulling me in several different directions. Amelia is on a nap strike and I feel like I haven't sat down in four years. I did want to take this opportunity to write this down while I remember:
William is full of questions. He has been for years now (it feels like). The questions just keep on getting harder and harder. I literally do not know how to begin answering some of the questions he has asked. Just today:
1. When I die, will I turn into oil?*,**, ***
2. Does God have bones?
*One of his favorite dinosaur books talks about how the dinosaurs died and their bodies turned into oil after a period of time.
** I'm trying to be patient with this one, but my child talks about dying a lot. Not him. Dinosaurs, our cat, other animals....I really feel like death is a concept he is struggling to understand and it is a very difficult concept to grasp. So, he asks questions. Lots of questions. Which may or may not be appropriate to the setting. Consider yourself warned.
***William's line of death questioning has me so uncomfortable. I know he is trying to understand, but how I do I explain the delicacy of the subject?
The other major questions as of late:
1. Are there noctornal dinosaurs?
2. Can rocks die? (insert any other object, plant, animal)
3. Can we go to the hospital and get another baby (!!!!)
4. Why do I have bones?
5. Can you break one of my bones so I can have a cast everyone will sign (NO, I won't). William's followup: But, can you break my bones?
6. Do fish drink water?
7. Why are there clouds in the sky?
8. What is in this chicken? (so NOT ready for the meat discussion right now on the tail end of the whole dying piece).
9. Can I drive the car?
10. Why didn't you remember to buy ranch dip?
11. Is there a number bigger than 62?
12. Why did Daddy crash the car?
13. When will I be a grown up?
14. What does this button do?
15. How does the smoke detector work?
16. Why does Daddy go to work?
17. Can I go to work with Daddy and help him?
18. Will you buy this for me? (I gently suggest he spend his own money) I'm not spending MY dollars on THIS! I'm saving my dollars for toys!
19. Why do we live here?
20. How many dollars did our house cost? (ME: a lot) William's follow up with big round eyes: More than 61 DOLLARS???!?!
My first born has always been a huge question asker, and believe me the questions get harder and harder as they get older. He made me extremely uncomfortable asking all sorts of questions about my dad and his death so many years ago. I REALLY didn't want talk about it, at all. But, you know what, he enabled me to finally grieve and get help at grieving that death. So, in turn, I've been very honest with my children regarding death and I am so glad I did because when their friend died 1 1/2 years ago it did help them in so many ways. That being said, young children (and different children) don't fully understand death, but you can still talk about it. Bailey was 7 and Henry was 4 1/2 when Alex died, and there was a HUGE difference in what they understood. Bailey totally "got it" from the minute he died and Henry was quite oblivious to the full impact of it all for a very long time. The boys are also very different, Bailey being an intellectual and curious learner while Henry is an energetic comedian and maker of cool things. So, their understandings are also different because God made their personalities so different.
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Andrea
This cracks me up! I don't recommend answering #8. I did it and now no one below the age of 6 will eat chicken at our house. And then they tell other kids about what chicken is, scarring them for the rest of their lives.
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