Everyone is asking me how the girls are doing. They are amazing girls and they are doing as well as possible.

After school yesterday, M immediately asked what happened with Allie. I took her to the side (away from the other kids) and told her that Allie died. She processed it, and then asked if she could go and say hello to her 1st grade teacher and if her current teacher could come to the Nutcracker. She was pretty matter-of-fact for the rest of the day. At night, she told Daddy that she wasn't sad that Allie died because I had told her that Allie was suffering and wasn't comfortable anymore. She has been very stoic about it. She was quite upset yesterday AM, before we went to school (when Allie was still with us), but she has been fine since.

A has been much more up and down. She didn't ask about Allie right away, but when I told her, she was very upset. She told her friend Abigail, who also lost a dog a few years ago, and I know that she has been telling other people at school (unlike M). She has been quite upset about it, including crying at times. She has a lot of questions about what it means, whether Allie can miss us, what cremation is about, and when Allie will go "in the fire". She was very sad this morning when she came downstairs to am empty first floor, and immediately started crying. When I got home tonight she was sad again. We read a book that someone lent me about "When a Pet Dies", which she was interested in but which didn't really make her feel better. She misses Allie a lot.

Apparently at school today A's class played a game called "So Do I". Someone says something like "I have a sister" and everyone else who does too stands up and says "So Do I". Of course, today someone said, "I have a dog" and A didn't stand up. She was very sad. Then her teacher said that A had lost her pet, and had everyone stand up who had also lost a pet.

The whole thing sucks. That's all I have to say about it. I am doing just OK. Looking at pictures of Allie isn't a good idea because it makes me teary, and driving home tonight was particularly hard.

UPDATE: Just after I finished this post, I heard a lot of crying upstairs. All three – M, A and Daddy – were upstairs crying about Allie. So I came up and we had a good old family cry and therapy session. We all miss Allie so much.

I am peeking at other dogs online but nothing serious.

One funny thing. M is in speech therapy. She may do a group therapy class, and her therapist said that she would graduate from it and get a "certificate". M said, "Well, don't give me a Dunkin' Donuts gift certificate because I already have one."