Oh, Fiddle, hugs to you. For everything. We will *try* to be there on Sunday if W hasn't made an appearance. But I think he will have by then.

On toddlers and death: I am just going by the seat of my pants on this one. So far Lily has been amazingly practical about it all. Things die, people die, the end. OK. ONE time we were walking around the block and all of a sudden came upon a stiff smushed squirrel, obviously thrown up from the road. Lily freaked for about 20 seconds, "Aaah! Pick me up pickmeuppickmeuppickmeup!", we picked her up, and she was fine. "Mama, Papa, that squirrel was dead, huh?" "Yep, he was dead. He got hit by a car." "Oh, right. A car hit him and he died. Poor squirrel." The end, and on to other topics.
The other day when DH was home they were talking about things dying. I don't know how they got on the subject, but she was just saying, "Cats get old and die. Dogs get old and die. Bugs get old and die. People get old and die." And she was fine and happy. I think she doesn't quite *get* what "dead" means, but obviously she saw that squirrel, and has also seen a dead cat now that I remember, so maybe she does. I'm sure the horrible dawning of realization will come soon, but so far it's just another thing about life that she finds a little interesting but no more so than, say, that ice and water are the same thing.

Speaking of fish, I just got a loach to eat all the blankety-blank snails that are taking over our tank. We've been talking about all the snails multiplying...now I guess we'll be talking about the loach eating them for dinner. Supposedly loaches eat the whole thing, shell and all. How's that for toddler entertainment!

Thinking of you, Heather/Heath/Eat.
S.
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