Dead Crab

A little while ago Justin thought it would be a great idea to buy Adlen some crabs, so they go to Wal-Mart get two crabs, a tank, filter, rocks and other accessories and food. Fine, I thought, but since then there has been an ugly, dirty tank on my kitchen counter and I have hated having them. But, like any mom, Adlen loves her crabs, so we've kept them.

Well sometime in this last week, one of them died. I noticed it yesterday, but since this was Justin's idea I left it for him to handle when he got home. Well that didn't happen, and not wanting to have a dead crab just sitting in our tank, I told Adlen what had happen.

"Adlen, one of your crabs died, he went back to Heavenly Father"

Adlen "What? Why you say that", with a confused look.

I again explained that when the crab died he went back to his Heavenly Father and we have to take him out of the tank and put him in a safe place, the trash. As I do this she tells me not to "dead him" and shes getting mad at me, telling me to put him back in the tank because he misses his daddy (I get a little sad at this conclusion she makes), I'm nervous thinking that she thinks I killed it, which isn't what you want your child thinking. In an effort to discourage this thought I ask her "do you want to look at him?" she says yes. So I show her his still little body and she gets even more sad and starts to cry, asking to call dad (who is at work) and tell him about her dead crab. So we do

"daddy, my crab is dead"

"oh, I'm sorry sweetie, it'll be ok"

"he went back to his Heavenly Father"

"yes he did, it's ok"

So we concluded the conversation and I finish the job of putting him in a safe place then she tells me "his daddy probably misses him" (the other crab is a little bigger then the one that died).

The idea that she decided that they were a family is so sweet, then to put together that if the family isn't together that that isn't right, made me actually feel a little bad about the passing of one of our crabs. My sweet little Adlen