Joys and Sorrows

This morning, Kevin enjoyed exploring my house and the activities set out for him. Here he is working on a simple Christmas puzzle which belonged to his Mom and uncle.

I had arranged for my Rotary Club's exchange student from Brazil to join us for lunch before going to a Holiday Pops Concert.

The decorations at our country club are gorgeous this year. Kevin loved them so much that he drew pictures of some of them!

And here Bruna and Kevin are in front of the fireplace he drew.

The Christmas tree.

A reindeer

Kevin with the reindeer.

Then on to the concert. Santa was in the vestibule! :)

It was a fun concert with, among other pieces, Lloyd Anderson music, some entertaining demonstrations of instruments, and selections from The Nutcracker with a Youth Ballet performing!


I am sad to report that on the second anniversary of Karin's Crowning Day, Dec. 15, Karin's Uncle Duane passed away. The wake was held this evening. Knowing that Karin's cousins' children would be present, Kevin went with us. Steve and an early childhood educator thought it was inappropriate for Kevin to know about a casket, see his mother, or be involved in the funeral in any way. Having grown up in a small town where we attended every funeral, I was very familiar, as a young child, with death and the accompanying traditions and rituals. Kevin knows that Mommy is buried in the cemetery, but he doesn't really know what that means. Someday, I knew that Kevin would need or want to learn, so I purchased this book for him.

We read it this afternoon. It is an excellent resource for young children dealing with death. Together, we decided to share it with his little cousins. He carried the book into the funeral home and almost immediately met Alexander who is one month younger than Kevin. Kevin explained to Alex that this book was about a grandmother dying. Alex retorted, "But my Grandfather died." Kevin patiently explained that gender didn't matter ending his speech with, "This will help you."
There was an open room next to Uncle Duane's parlor. The boys were set up in there with toys and videos and adults checking on them periodically.



They were well behaved (for the most part). Alexander remembers meeting Kevin before when Kevin hit him in the head with a yellow truck. I do not recall this incident, but Alexander is sure it happened and mentioned it to Kevin repeatedly through the evening. Hearing about your misdeeds, even if they did happen and especially if they didn't, is annoying. By the end of the evening, Kevin insisted that Alex was NOT his cousin. In fact, he said he could not understand how any of them could be his cousins. At home, we had to pull out some photos and explain the entire Walsh clan.