competitive grieving

Our family is grieving. 
On Saturday, our dear sweet Rocky passed away unexpectedly.  He was our muse, our playmate, our inspiration...  A fixture in our daily life.

So we've been spending a fair amount of time talking with Sophie about it.

At first, her response was, "well, we still have Martha" and "now we have to get a new cat AND a new dog."

Hmmm.  Not the response we were expecting.

As the days press forward, she is noting his absence more, finding his toys or an old dog bone, and watching Martha (and us) mope. 

So I asked her, "do you miss Rocky?"
Her reply: "Yes, Mommy.  I miss him more than you do."