Dead bugs, Death and Favorit-est things

After an exceptionally fun outing yesterday, on the drive back, Bebu whispered to me in the car.

"I have a secret for you".

Then she asked me very carefully, "Will Appa (Daddy) get old?"

I replied, "Ya, I mean he is getting older..?"

She whispered back again, "But I dont want him to die.."

Silent pause from me. Silence from her. I was stumped for a second, because my "having-just-finished-an ice-cream" brain wasn't ready for a heavy duty topic.

Me: "Ok, Bebu"

Then came the next one while I was still thinking! " Will I die too?"

So I said to her in a very matter of fact, but quite calm way, "Well, Some day you might.."


I leaned over the sleeping infant on my lap to tussle her hair.


Bebu: "But I dont want to die"

Me : " hmmm, yeah.. I don't either,Bebu"

Bebu: "Because if I die, I won't be alive anymore and I can't do my favorite-st thing of swimming!"

Me: "That's right! So that's why we should try and swim as much as we can while we are alive!"

Adding,  "And stay safe while we are doing it!"

Bebu still wasn't done with death. "Will you die?"

Me: "Someday I will. We all will. When we get old, our bodies shut down"

Bebu: "Will Grandma die first? She is really old"


Hubs: "She is older, but she tries to stay healthy. Sometimes people die not just when they are old, but when they are sick". (Phew! thanks Hubs, for jumping in with that one!)

And then we talked more about our recently departed aunt that we just went to celebrate the memory of. We stayed and prayed with her and our family. We spoke about how she used to visit, how Bebu was having a hard time remembering her, how she might be with God, and how she is in our memories.

And then Bebu got distracted with something else and we were off to another topic.

Having both the kids asleep later on, I asked Hubs if he knew what might have triggered her question. Earlier this morning, he and Bebu had gone swimming. By the showers lay a dead bug. Bebu noticed it and they had a conversation about how the bug might have died and how it didn't move anymore. Hubs had mentioned to her that the bug might have died because it might have gotten really old.

It took a day for my almost 5 year old to ponder and arrive at the conclusion that what happens to bugs could happen to people as well.

It took 2 minutes of talking in the car with Bebu about death to remind myself  that it's important for me to do the things I love best while I am alive. Like enjoying the ice cream that I eat. And talking to Bebu about "dead bugs and other things". And spending time with my family.  For in Bebu's exact words " because if I die, I won't be alive anymore and I can't do my favorite-st thing of ....."

Bumpy Moons!

Bebu spotted the orange moon day before yesterday. It was quite late and we had the lights out already in our bedroom. I tried to get pictures of the beautiful orange crescent moon, but every time I clicked the pictures would get all blurred.

After every "click", she would want to see the picture in the viewer of the SLR. I was a bit dismayed that I didn't have a tripod and couldn't capture its beauty. I said to her, " Bebu, It's all bumpy!", with a slight frown on my face.

But then little Bebu had an entirely different way of looking at it. She said "I like the bumpy orange moon! It's like lots of moons are popping out of the bumpiness!"

Which, of course, immediately turned a sort of "abandoned attempt" to capture the moon into an "exciting moment" to capture more pictures of bumpy moons.

So here is our best capture of the night! Picture by Me. Title by Bebu.

                                         A picture titled: Bumpy orange moons popping out!
       

Faces and Drawings!

Bebu has discovered drawing. She makes drawings on our walls. Since we haven't bothered to get the house painted, the walls are filled with artwork. Our guests often comment on how full of artwork our home is. The Hubby and I join in in adding more decorations and drawings. Not really in a planned way. More in a find a pencil, lets just go all out on the expressions and who needs to find paper types-way:)

The paper art is quickly piling up too. I seem to have inherited "pack-rat"ing tendencies especially when it comes to my children's creations. It's hard to throw something away that has been so lovingly created. Thank goodness for camera's and photography.

These are Bebu's wall drawings over the past few months. She has been making faces. We were watching Art Attack and Mr.Maker, both shows that we loved.. Somewhere around then is when she started to draw. We have kind of stopped watching the shows, but the drawings happily continue:)


                                                                   Daddy!

   Happy!

  She said this was our house!

   Grandma with her glasses and hair!

This one she made day before yesterday when a friend came over and we spontaneously embarked on a sticker creation session. Out of a bunch of materials that I opened out, which included flower and leaf stickers, Bebu created the face of a girl with a hair band!

Which one do you like best?