"Rose," our (male) beta fish, died tonight. Kenzie took it very hard. She broke into tears immediately and begged Cindy to not flush her, but to let her keep her. (It's confusing because technically we know this is a male fish, but Kenzie always referred to it as "she.")

In order to rescue the situation, we decided to have a little funeral. Cindy got the shovel. We told Kenzie to pick out a nice place in the yard for her/him. We said a prayer and thanked God for the good friend we had in Rose. Kenzie interrupted, "Mom, she wasn't a friend. She wasn't. She was my baby." We buried the fish, said some nice words about what a good girl/boy she/he was, then Kenzie brought her pinwheel over and stuck it in the ground near Rose.



Kenze was still very sad, so she got out a pad of paper. (This is an amazing skill she's developed for helping her express her emotions.) Then she drew this picture. In the center is the pinwheel and just to the left of it is Rose. The rest of the red are hearts.



In case you can't read it, it says:

ROSE DIED
beta
I loved her (crossed out) him
MacKenzie's fish died

After she asked me to scan it, she rushed into the room, grabbed it from me and said, "I'm going to go put something else on it. I'm going to put a cross. Just like Jesus. A cross for Rose just like for Jesus. Mom, I'm studying Jesus in Sunday School. Did you know that when it's Easter he'll die. Then, next Easter, he'll be alive again." And then she left the room as quickly as she had appeared. We may need some follow-up here.