Birthday

Tobin had his birthday early last week.  He was pretty excited about it!  We had a party for him on Sunday, and when Ann-Marie broke the news to him that his REAL birthday wasn't for a few days he burst into tears saying "I'm never going to turn 5!!"  He was so pleased to finally be five, marching around with rubbing his elbows on his sides as he's wont to do when he's chuffed.  It was fun to watch.

Here are a few lousy iphone bday pics.

Tobin wanted " a lava cake with fire and T-rexes climbing it".  Looks like an excised equine hemorrhoid, but it was delicious!

Pool party yo!

Party number 2

Kids and Pets

So today was a pretty low day all around.  Part of the day I spent wondering, "How am I going to tell the kids?  They're going to be devastated".

So I spent a few minutes looking at links on "how to talk to your child about pet death".  Unless you're an idiot the advice on these websites is pretty obvious.  And (thanks Chris) no, I didn't tell them that "Bear went for a long walk with Jesus".

So I picked them up from daycare, thinking how I should broach the subject on the way home.  Making small talk, etc etc.  Finally, I managed to get the two of them in the same place for five minutes during a lull in the shouting and whining and said:

"you know how Bear went to Kelowna, and he was really, really sick and I said he might not get better?"

To which they responded:

"yeah"

"well, Bear was so sick that he couldn't get better, and he died (followed by a short discourse on dying)."

Tobin: "oh"

Nick: "what dad?  what?  what dad?  what?  what dad? what?"*

Tobin: "well we'll just get another dog, or a cat, but we don't have the right food for a cat."

Nick: "what dad? what? what dad? what? what dad? what? I'm hungry."

Me: "right, well.  I miss him too.  Maybe we can make a toast to him at dinner!"

Nick: "I want toast for dinner!"

Alrighty then.  I guess death is still a little esoteric.  Hopefully I don't die before they get a handle on that one, otherwise I'll be assigned to the compost heap of their emotions.

I miss Bear anyway.

*standard converstion with Nick

Bear

I'm at home this morning contemplating Bear's future.  Last weekend he had a mini seizure when someone came to the door, nothing major, just a bit of a blip on the cognitive radar.  On Monday I took him to a vet in town; blood results showed that he probably had some internal bleeding somewhere.  Dad came up the next day to take him down to Kelowna to his old clinic where, today, they did some imaging on him.  He has a tumour, which has metastasized to his liver.

Bear's race has run and now I have to decide it's time for him to go.  It's such a hard decision, largely because I can't go down to be with him... But his grandfather is there and said he'll give him a pat on the head for me.  I'm sorry Bear, I wish I could take you out for one last walk around the block.  You were such a good, gentle dog who tolerated so much and asked for so little in return.  I wish I'd learned more lessons from you before you had to go.

I'm sure he's at the clinic now, wandering around, wagging his tail at everyone, using up every last iota of energy to make sure he's friendly with everyone he meets.  It's a good model to live by really.