Dasha's Birthday

Somehow, we have managed to pack in two birthdays and an anniversary in January. Dasha will be 11 on 1/26 and her birthday request was to go to Build A Bear with Daddy and cousin Kailee. Believe me, I really did try to warn Eric what a Build A Bear trip entailed but he assured me that he was up to it. My last question for him as he climbed into his truck with two giggly girls was, "Do you have a bottle of Tylenol?" Of course, once again, he laughed and promised that he'd be just fine. I called him about an hour later and his confidence had begun to wane! His enthusiastic retorts had turned to simple caveman-like grunting. Nonetheless, he made it home in one piece and both girls had their little created creatures boxed up for everyone to see. (It must have been a Kodak moment when the girls wanted to buy their little creatures panties! Poor Eric)!

After dinner, my parents came by to have cake and open gifts. Dasha got loads of new coloring books and crayons of all sort. This, by far, is one of her favorite things to play with.

On another not so gleeful note, Eric's elderly grandma passed away yesterday morning. They had a family viewing this afternoon. Dasha begged to go. It was one of those moments that paralizes parents. We didn't know how to respond. We just never quite know how much she will understand or what her perception will be. With Dr. James Dobson's number on speed dial and Dr. Phil's written in the front of the address book, we figured that this might be a teachable moment that wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg in counseling fees to undo.

Dasha and Eric went to the viewing and Eric spent a great deal of time answering her questions. She truely did not understand what death meant and Eric said she stood by the casket and spoke to Mawmaw in a normal voice. She asked many questions about heaven and God, which did turn into an incredible teachable moment. However, we're still not quite sure how much she truely understood so we're just going to have to make ourselves available to answer her questions and give her whatever guidance we can.

What a day!