Gabe is continuing to try out new tastes and textures - I believe he has rated squash in the dislikes category, but carrots seem to be going over very well! I have some carrot pictures, just give me a little time to get them posted. It's almost time to get everyone going for school. He is also laughing pretty easily now, and is very ticklish like his Dad and brothers. He has rolled all the way over, but just a couple of times. He also doesn't push up very well on his tummy, but that is why we are getting the PT, hopefully soon.

Justin hit me with more "Life" questions last night. If you will remember last winter we dealt with the "Where do Babies Come From" question, which made sense and I was kind of prepared for, considering the circumstances. Last night I was not prepared. I am tucking him in and as I lean in for the kiss, he asks, "Do people die in the winter?". ....uhhhh? So to stall as I search for an answer, and to help answer the question better, I chose to probe into the root of this question. After some questioning, it turns out they read a book about the Pilgrims at school and the hard winter in which many grew sick and died. I felt more competent to answer now, so I explained the difference in the times when the pilgrims lived and the conditions compared to our situation and that he didn't need to worry. Well, if you know Justin, then you know that isn't the end of the conversation. This lead to "if we get sick, do we die", which I fielded ok I think, but that one lead to "But if you die, do you get to come back sometimes?". So now he had switched into more personal mode - he wasn't asking about death in general, he was asking about my death. How do you stick to the truth and still calm his fears? We are not stork and cabbage patch people, we try to be honest (well, at this age we go for the "swiss cheese truth" - it may have a few holes in it) but he is crying now, so what do I say? Well I'd love to tell you that I ever so eloquently explained it all, he smiled and rubbed his little eyes and then rolled over and fell promptly asleep while I congratulated myself on another successful parenting moment....but we all know better. We got through it - talked about visiting in dreams, family pictures and videos and how the people we love come back when we think about them. We talked more about prayer and Jesus. He was satisfied enough that he did eventually go to sleep, but even as I left the room, after the tears had been dried and noses wiped, I could tell the wheels in his head were still turning.

Oh, and while all of this was happening, Kendrick was popping his little head over the rail of his top bunk inserting his own thoughts - the classic one:
"Mommy, I'm shy",
"what?",
"I'm really shy!",
"Do you know what that means?",
"Yes, it means when you're gonna die".
Ofcourse he is grinning all the while, as he does. I think I need to ask Miss Pat if they are working on rhymes in preschool.