Mama? Why Kitty in the mud?

Happy Easter everyone.

Ugh. So it happened. One of our four healthy animals mysteriously passed away overnight, and Baby was the one who found her. Kitty was only about six years old. We'd noticed she'd been curled up sleeping a lot over the past couple of days, but nothing major. She was eating and going in and out of the house like normal.

When we got up in the morning, Baby went across the hall to Dad's office and started with "Kitty sick! Kitty sick!" Well, Kitty was dead, laying on her side on the floor next to the closet.

We all petted her (she was stiff and cold) and told her goodbye and that we loved her. Then Papa took her out to the backyard and buried her by the shed.

That was yesterday. Since then, Baby continually pops up out of nowhere with "Where's Kitty? Why Kitty in the mud? Get her out?" As well as "Baby sick? Mama sick?" and also "Died?" Several times per day she takes my hand and drags me out into the backyard to look at Kitty's grave.

I'm sort of at a loss and I keep finding myself saying all those silly things that grownups tell kids that I always thought were probably not a good idea:
"Kitty was very, very sick, honey. She's gone now." (Thinking to myself: Baby is thinking 'I've been sick, does that mean I'll go away' )"

I finally found myself saying "Kitty's in heaven, honey. She's playing with all the other kitties and purring. She's happy! We miss her, but she's doing okay!" Especially ironic since we're agnostic.

Anyone else had to deal with this? Otherwise, Baby doesn't seem stressed or traumatized, just - curious. And you can tell she misses Kitty.

blessed