Understanding Death at 4

We had some very sad news this last week. My brother-in-law's mother, Naconna, passed away after suffering for a few months from a back injury. The evening I heard the news I decided we'd go over to their house to visit. My sister has two sons - one who's 4 and the other is 9 yrs old. I explained to Tayshaun we'd have to be quiet and gentle because the boys were probably going to be sad. We stayed for an hour or so and on the way home the questions began.

"Mom, why did Michael's Grandma die?"
"Well, babe, when we get older our bodies don't work so well anymore and we sometimes just fall asleep and die."
"What happened to her body?"
"Well sometimes hearts get old and they can't pump blood around the body so well. We need blood in our body to live. So the heart just pumps slower and slower until it stops pumping."
"Oh..... Mom, will she be going to the park where the statues are at?" (this is a cemetary he sees daily driving home from his daycare provider's home. We've talked about how we can visit those who've died at the cemetary.)
"Yes, there will be a funeral for her where all her family will go to say goodbye to her and then they'll take her to the cemetary."
"I wanna go."
"No, Tayshaun, I'm going to leave work for a few hours to go to the funeral. I won't be able to come pick you up."
"But that's not fair, Mom, I won't be able to see her one last time." (ok, my son has probably seen Naconna maybe once in his life and he was probably not even 2 years old. So of course, I had to giggle at his comment.)
"Well, darlin', Michael probably won't even be going because it's very sad to go to a funeral. The family will be crying and I don't think you'll want to be there for that; it will make you very sad."
"Will Michael's Grandma still be able to see him anymore?" (Now, I'm not a very spiritual person so I'm not really sure how to answer this one - 'cause I'm not really sure myself - so I decide to go with the norm...)
"Well, she'll be able to still see Michael and Zachary because she'll be in heaven. And she'll be able to look down from heaven and see Michael and Zachary and all of her family."
"Will she be with Jesus in heaven? You know Jesus is a very important person, Mom" (Tayshaun's daycare provider keeps him up to date with the "Heavenly Father" and Jesus...and then he keeps me informed.)
"Yes, Tayshaun, she'll be there with God and Jesus."
"That's good. I can't wait to see Jesus; he's a very important person Mom. Michael's Grandma is reeeeeealy lucky."

Well that evening I was brushing my teeth before going to bed and Tayshaun calls out to me frantically "Mom, you better come here fast!" Ok, what the heck, I have a mouth full of toothpaste. "What's wrong, Tayshaun?" "It's my heart Mom - it's pumping pretty slow!" Now, I'm busting up in the bathroom. So I spit out my toothpaste and compose myself and eventually go to him. I tried to explain that he has a very young heart and he's not going anywhere anytime soon....'cause we gotta see SeaWorld first!

And then the questions about SeaWorld and LegoLand began. But that's another posting....soon....and to be continued....