Kenna, The Animal Whisperer

"Mama, Mama, look in my Hot Wheels van! Look! Look!"
I tried to peer in the little round side window but couldn't see much. It looked like something was moving but it wasn't clear as to what that might be.
"Oh, here..." you exclaimed impatiently in your little three year old voice as you dumped out the contents.
How you fit over 50 pill bugs in that toy van was beyond me! When I asked you how you got them inside the van, you looked at me like you couldn't believe I couldn't see, what to you, was an obvious fact.
"Well, they rolled into little balls to make room for each other."
I loved how you always took care of the little creatures of the earth.
We removed a large tarp on the driveway after a heavy rain, and found several hundred worms that had relocated under it. You calmly said, "Well...there are too many worms to save and besides, they know their way back to the grass, but those two snakes in the middle need my help." How you recognized 2 snakes among all those squirmy worms was beyond me.

When Kenton got a parakeet for Valentine's Day in Kindergarten, we hung the cage over the dining room table when we left so the cats couldn't get to it. When you all got home, the cage was laying on the floor, door open, bird gone. You and Kameron didn't want him to know what had happened, so instead of telling him how the cat had become a circus performer by jumping off the amoire, hanging on the cage and getting it to swing until it fell, you told him the bird actually got away and went up the chimney. That explained the feathers near the fireplace. When I came home and talked to him, he said very seriously, "Kameron and Kenna told me the bird flew away and he's happy. But Mom, I'm worried about the cat because she keeps going "Aha, aha" (coughing sound)....sigh.. (I hope he doesn't read this because we never did tell him the truth about that acrobatic cat!)

You taught Rosie to sing. How adorable you were when you howled and she lifted her red dog chin and sang along with you!

You had a gift, my dear.

Lil Bear misses you greatly and it took her a long time to quit going in, jumping on your bed and crying throughout the house looking for the only 'Mama" she ever had. She is now my best buddy and I, against your advice, have spoiled her rotten. And I apologize about the "lion cut" but she really needed it this summer. But you must have left a little of your gift behind with us because she jumps on my lap when I call her with that special sound you made. She sleeps cuddled under my chin at night and lays on my hip during the day. I love her now just as you did even with her stomach problems, hairballs, poor eyesight and all.