On the way out the door to Pokemon League she asked, "Is the Easter Bunny a person in a bunny costume?" Needless to say both Jeb and I looked at each other with our jaws dropped open. After a momentary pause to quickly put together how I should respond I asked her why she was wondering and what she thought.
She said she was just wondering. I explained that yes, the bunny we go see at the Community Center or the mall is a person who is a "helper" and is dressed up in a costume. I asked her though how she thought the eggs got delivered to Grandma Jackie's house. She replied that they were put there by the real bunny, so I think we're still good through this year anyway.
She followed this up with a question about Santa Claus which we answered in much the same fashion. That both he and the Easter Bunny are as real as she believes they are and that they need lots and lots of helpers to make every child happy. She seemed content with this.
This evening was even harder. At bedtime she started crying and declared, "I don't want to die."
After about literally 2 hours of reassuring and answering questions between Jeb and I she finally calmed down and was ready to go to sleep. We still don't know quite what brought that on, but I suppose eventually every child asks about death.
At one point in the discussion she looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I think it's like a cocoon. This is our old body and once we die we shed our cocoon and get our new body in heaven."
I was stunned and told her that was exactly right and a very nice way to describe it. I also asked where she had heard that (I thought maybe at Sunday School). She said she had just decided that was what it was like and hadn't heard it before anywhere. Very insightful.
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