Theo is very curious about death. Initially, we told him that people and animals who die "go up to the stars." That satisfied him for a while, but then he wanted to know more. One thing he wondered about was how old people are when they die. Not wanting to get into tragedies and the sadness of people dying young, I simply told him that people die "when they're around 100 or so." I figured that we don't know anyone near 100, so he wouldn't be concerned about someone he knows dying soon.
The other day, Chris took Theo and Sam to the hardware store, and Theo got to talking about his great-grandmother.
Theo: Dad, how old is Great-Grandma Norma?
Chris: She's 89.
Theo (with a look of great worry): Oh no--that's dead!
Chris assured him that she was definitely not dead, and all was well. But then today, when I got him off the school bus, our elderly neighbor was outside. She cheerfully said hello to Theo, who replied, "How old is our neighbor?" I quickly said, "Theo, that's not polite to ask..." and she said, "Oh, does he want to know how old I am?" I smiled and said he did, and she replied, "Well, honey, I'm probably about 100." (She's actually in her eighties...)
Theo looked at her and said, "Are you going up to the stars soon?"
Mortified, I started to giggle as I said, "NO, honey, she's fine!" And Mary (our neighbor) said, "I couldn't hear him! What did he say?" I tried to put her off, but she was persistent, so I finally explained that he thinks people die when they're 100. She started laughing and said, "Oh no--and I told him I'm 100!"
Meanwhile (because I needed to be more embarrassed), Theo was standing behind me singing a forbidden song that he sort of made up (he embellished a song he's heard on YouTube). The lyrics?
"Dead things to find--so many dead things to find!"
Oh dear...
No comments:
Post a Comment