managing my niece & nephew

as all the arrangements for sapphie's demise were being made, i kept watch over my niece and nephew. i asked my sis-in-law about their reactions. i wanted to know how they were coping with the dog's death.

for my niece, she has all along been a little afraid of dogs and despite being able to play with sapphie, she kept her distance somewhat. similar to how she reacted when my mum passed away, my niece stayed away from the dead body. as for my nephew, he was rather attached to the dog. the last time sapphie stayed over for a fortnight, he would walk her (together with my maid) and he would feed her and played with her. it was funny to see how sapphie responded so positively to him too as she'd let him pull her fur, led her around her house (although at times, it looked like sapphie was leading him instead), and climbed all over her. he cried for a long time when i brought her home. he was elated to have sapphie stayed over again this time, except that it was a short stay. he did not react too well when sapphie died and cried. i was a little surprised by this reaction as he did not respond similarly when my mum died just 4 months ago. i had rationalised back then that he was too young to know what was happening. but this time round, i sensed he understood better what death meant and had felt the loss. he eventually came around and could tell me that the dog had died. he added he was not afraid of the dead body. and as usual, to help him manage this passing, i explained to him about life and death and that sapphie had lived to a ripe of age. and the same as human, it was her time to go. he listened and kept quiet.

i thought they took the whole passing well.