Innocence Lost

I am sometimes a little worried about the innocence that Gabriel has lost in the last few months. Since the babies have died, he has often brought death up as well. He will randomly ask me in the car about death and what will happen to him after he dies. He once asked a few weeks ago if he would just lay in the cemetery for the rest of his life after he dies. I had to explain to him that we would receive new heavenly bodies partly because he was worried that his brothers (who were cremated) wouldn't have bodies to go to heaven with. I know that curiosity about death is not unusual at this age, but it sometimes difficult to have my 5 year old ask every time we see a baby's picture if the baby is still alive or not. His new awareness of death has even surprised strangers. As we were boarding the plane a few weeks ago to travel to San Antonio, a woman behind us commented on how cute Gabriel was. She told me that had 4 boys. Gabriel asked her if they were in heaven. You can imagine I'm sure that she was a little surprised by his question. I had to explain to her about the triplets so she didn't think my son was strange. In the end, I am not worried about the lessons that he is learning. I just wish that they didn't have to come so early.