Stitch Likes Big Heads

We have two baby gates up. One is at the bottom of the stair case because Little J loves to go in search of Stitch upstairs. The other is between the living room and the kitchen/dining nook. This is to keep her away from the litter box, the cat food dish and fountain, and the oven. I believe that this photo says it all. But for those that might like a little extra insight:

Little J was sad that her head was too big to squeeze underneath the baby gate like Stitch does, and Stitch was rather thankful that Little J has a big head.

Up The Stairs

I have been MIA from blog land….
Because my husband has a new job that has my sleep schedule all screwy
Because when Little J is asleep I’m either sleeping or eating
Because it is summer vacation and all three boys are home ALL DAY LONG
Because Little J is crawling and cruising and letting me know she is a mini version of me.

BUT here I am. The boys are on vacation at their grandparents, Little J and the hubby are both asleep and it’s early enough in the evening that I’m too awake to sleep.  And Stitch….Stitch is not happy with me.

Well, Stitch had quite the shock today. Up until today the staircase and the baby gates were his Great Wall of China when it came to needing a barricade from Little J.

To be fair I probably could have at least warned him. But my desire to capture the element of surprise is far too strong to ignore. Today I let Little J crawl up the stairs. It’s something my husband and I have been allowing her to do if we are right there behind her spotting her the whole way up. Let me tell you, that little girl is a speed demon when it comes to wanting to go play with Stitch.

She watched Stitch run up the staircase. She looked at me and I said “Oh OK.” So up we went – One right after the other up the staircase. And at the top was Stitch, just coming out of Big D’s room.

How I wish I had brought a video camera with me to capture the expression on his face. He was mid-paw walking out of the doorway when Little J popped herself up over the top step. He stopped, paw raised and I’m pretty sure that the though going through his head was something along the lines of “Oh Poop!”

Of course it was my fault and I was rewarded with a glare of evil thoughts I’m sure he would consider doing if I wasn’t the one providing his food every day.

If he thinks she is this big of a pain in the butt now just wait until she’s walking … which is sooner than later unfortunately for both me and him.

I Think My Cat is a Masochist

I’ve owned Stitch for about 5 years now. He’s pretty unique compared to some of the other cats I’ve owned. After observing him I’ve concluded that Stitch is a masochist.

I didn’t come to this conclusion lightly. At first I thought perhaps I was the clumsy one. I do have a tendency to walk into corners and walls (that are parallel to my walking path). It started off with his tail darting underneath a foot about to step or a thigh as you’re about to step. And it escalated into full out paws finding their way under feet while I’m walking.

Well, after this last week I’m convinced that Stitch likes the pain. Not once, not twice, but at least a minimum of four times Stitch and I ran into each other. By running into each other I mean that I was walking somewhere and no matter how much I tried to step over or around him, that cat always managed to get under my feet. I’m practically convinced that he purposely put his paw under my foot each time.

He went to the great effort of moving under a foot that had just about cleared over him. I think he might have dived, paws outstretched to get his paw right under the paw of my foot.

He always goes to the trouble of meowing, loudly at me when it happens. Yet, he keeps doing it. I’ve also seen him run smack into the legs of chairs, roll straight off the couch and even dare to fall asleep sitting up and start to sway one way or another.

Even more recently, he allows Little J to pull his ears, grab his face and fur, and just yesterday his tail. He acts like he doesn’t enjoy it, however he doesn’t run when she comes near him. He sits there as she crawl up closer, and closer with baby hand outstretched. Half the time he only moves because I’m shooing him away to avoid pulled fur.

I think he’s pissed at me for ousting him. He’s glaring at me as he’s perched from the back of the couch. Either that or he’s pissed that I’m still awake with the lights on after 1am ... Maybe a little of both?

Stop Judging Me

I might be paranoid and a tad insane … but I swear the cat was judging me today on my parenting skills.

The younger boys’ bookshelves were a mess. A library book was missing and I had about had it. I took all the books off the shelves in piles and had them organize them and put them back nicely on the shelves.

I sat in the doorway holding the baby. I sat in the doorway because stuff seems to get done when I’m standing there. And I was holding the baby because when she’s with me the urge to lose my temper is lessened. And there from the top bunk was Stitch looking at the boys working to put the books back on the shelves and then looking at me.

He had a look in his eyes … like he was judging my parenting skills. He kept looking at me and I couldn’t tell if it was disappointment or disgust or what. Maybe he was laughing at me. Finally I got fed up with it. I looked him in the eye from across the room and silently mouthed “Stop judging me. If you think you can do better then you parent them.”

To this he turned around, tail up and laid down for a nap.

All I could think was “What a jerk.” We never found that missing library book but, those books got put back on the shelves nicely.

My Cat Has Amazing Patience

I knew my cat had patience when we first moved in with my husband and the three boys. The boys would want to give him hugs and non-comfortable pats on the head. He never bit them or scratched them. He leaned away from them … the classic body language cue that you’d prefer the person you were leaning away from to get away from you. But children don’t pick up on that sometimes.

But now that we have a 7-month-old, crawling, active baby in the house I have really come to appreciate his patience. She loves her cat. She sees him walk in the room and she starts flopping her hands and feet like crazy. She follows after him, crawling at a quick speed around the house.

But I think most of all his Amazing Patience can be seen here in this photo below. No baby or cat was seriously hurt in this photo. Enough said, the photo speaks for itself.

For The Love of Cats

Normally with online communities you hear scary stories about how some stalker found your home because you shared too much info. But there are very positive things that can happen from an online community. I have a really heartwarming story to share from the CatChannel.com online community Club Cat.

A couple of months ago one of our members became very ill and had to be hospitalized. Some of our other members helped out by going to her house to help feed and care for her cats. Sadly the member passed away. She didn’t have any immediate family members and her cats had no one to care for them. But the kindness of the other Club Cat members didn’t stop there. A massive effort was made to find homes for her cats.

Some members traveled across the nation from the West coast to the East Coast and others from the South to up North and back again. Some of the people involved in this re-homing mission were relatives of Club Cat members. Long story short, all of her cats were placed in a new loving home (mostly with other Club Cat members).

Ever since I started working in the pet industry I’ve given some thought to what would happen to Stitch in the event that I couldn’t care for him anymore. I would hope that my parents or my sister might take him in. I keep telling myself one of these days I’ll write it all down and put some money aside just for him. Hopefully though, we won’t have to act on the plan.

I guess most people wouldn’t think much of it since he’s a “Cat.” But us other people get it. Our pets aren’t just a “cat” or a “dog” or a “bird.” Our pets become a part of the family and they too need to be included in a plan whether it be an emergency plan or when planning a vacation.

With all the crazy in the world it’s nice to know that there are kind-hearted people out there willing to step up and help out someone (to some a complete stranger) in need … or in this case the love for cats helped care for her cats.

Stitch Had Better Run

My house has been a circus lately. It started off with a case of food poisoning. Then Little J started teething. Then she started crawling. And I was suddenly in a flurry to baby proof, move things up higher and find the best way to rearrange the furniture so that the least amount of corners are out in the open.

Now, I am aware that some babies start to pick up and master crawling around the 6-7 months. However, Little J took the first wobbly crawling moves Friday, May 6 and she’s already cruising. Quite honestly, I blame Stitch.

He sits across the room, keeping his distance from the baby. But I know he’s taunting her, daring her to come get him. And now that she is mobile he had better run … and he had better run fast.

He had a close call today. He was sitting there, looking at her, daring her to come and get him. And this time she flew across the room. I wasn’t sure if his wide eyes were a look of shock, panic or fear. Maybe it was all three. Either way he realized he was in some deep kitty doo if he didn’t move. In less than 30 seconds he had gone from lounging to sitting, and then realized that moving away from the baby who was gaining ground was probably a smarter plan of action.

Luckily for him I intercepted her just when she was close enough to take a swipe at his whiskers. He sat there, frozen. I think he was in a state of shock.

Hopefully next time he’ll figure it out sooner than later. There will be a time when she’s too fast for even I to intercept.

For your entertainment … Little J’s first face plant as she “gets” the crawling down. I apologize for the grainy quality. My cell phone is not the best at video, but that’s what we had when she figured out how to crawl.