On school days at 11:30 (or 10:30 if it's Friday), I pick up Heathen #2 from kindergarten. Because of daycare costs, the younger two Heathens go to my Godson's house. And his house is, of course, outside of the school district.
I leave work, go get him, and drive him to the sitter's. It's probably only a 10 minute trip - on a slow day. But it's been a great chance to talk to just him, without any other Heathens interrupting or butting in. I turn off the radio and we chat the whole way to the sitter's.
Yesterday, for some reason, he announced that he knew he wasn't going to live forever and he started to become very morbid and upset. Young children do this on occasion. Sometimes it's hard to snap them out of it.
I informed him that he couldn't die for a very long time. That he would be older that Pap is when he finally gets around to it - and Pap is 82. He would be soooo old that he wouldn't have any teeth left anymore.
Something about my teeth comment really caught his attention and we talked about dentures for the rest of the trip. How you take out your dentures and soak them in a bowl overnight just like I take out my contacts. How you're all gums when you aren't wearing them. How it's hard to chew cookies without teeth, but you could still suck on lollipops. This whole conversation involved me making "gum faces" and talking as though I no longer had teeth either. Heathen #2 loved it.
He got out of the van, gave me a kiss, walked up the porch steps, and waved before he went in the door at the sitter's house. He was no longer upset that he wasn't going to live forever. It's amazing what a little chat can accomplish.
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