Aydan's first loss.

Aydan's beloved 'Happy' passed away on Friday. Happy is Aunty Akila, mom to his day care provider. The daycare Aydan attends was started by Aunty Akila many many years ago. She raised hundreds of kids and left a good impression on all of them including Aydan. We were introduced to her by my nieces Sophia and Ameenah. They always spoke highly of Aunty Akila along with her whole family. So naturally when it was time to find a daycare for Aydan we thought immediately of Aunty Akila.
Happy suffered from a fall a few years ago which resulted in surgeries on her spine. Surgeries gone bad which made her very weak. Even though she lost a lot of weight, she still spent time with the kids. Her daughter Noreen eventually quit her job to take over the daycare but more importantly spend time and care for her mom.
Aydan napped with Happy. Noreen often told me when I picked him up that Aydan was happier upstairs with Happy. Every single day, while I buckled him into his car seat, he remembered Happy. "Bye Happy, bye" He says it every day.
Happy caught pneumonia and was too weak to fight it. Happy left all her kids on Friday May 1, 2009. She left them all knowing they would be okay with Noreen because she needed rest and peace. She is finally pain free.
While her own family is mourning her loss, how do I even begin to explain this to Aydan.
I've been telling him that Happy is gone to Allah now and when he goes to daycare she won't be upstairs. I keep telling him Noreen is going to be sad but to behave and listen to what she says. I don't even want to think about and imagine what he will do when he goes upstairs to look for Happy and turn to ask Noreen where she is?
Aydan has learned so much from Aunty Akila and I really hope he remembers her. It's amazing how someone so little can talk so much about someone. When he says something new, especially about Islam, and I ask him who told him that, he always says Happy.
Aydan is giving Noreen some time to grieve this week. I really hope she will be okay to take care of all her mom's kids in her mom's house without her mom. And I'm sure when he returns next week, while he's being buckled in he'll say, "Bye Happy,bye!"