Raising the most beautiful girls in the world…
Archive for January, 2009
At least I am good at something…
Jan 9th
As I was walking down the hall, I heard Ava yelling for help from her Dad. I walked into the bathroom to see her on the toilet. She looked pretty relieved to see me.
“Oh, I’m happy its you Mommy.”
“Really?”
“Yes! You really are the best wiper.”
Trust me, that’s like employee-of-the-month around here!
New man in the house.
Jan 9th
We still really miss Bella. It is weird coming home and not having her greet us with loud barks and obnoxious jumping around. It is strange to see the squirrels in our yard run right up to our patio without giving it a second thought. And, it is weird not having her laying underneath Olivia’s highchair, waiting for the the morsels of food that she knew small children would drop her way. The house is quieter without her.
We did not feel that we could handle another dog right now, given the impending arrival of little baby tadpole. However, Ava has wanted a cat since she was old enough to talk. Many of you know about this cat obsession. It has confounded Dave and I, because neither one of us are cat fans. I have always had dogs as a kid and as an adult. Dave had a cat in college that was really more of an alley acquaintance who would appear and then disappear (his name was “Crash” and he was missing his tail, if that is any indication). However, our oldest daughter has always wanted a “real live cat”. She knows our friends by what cats they have. She can spot a toy cat or a book with a cat on it from a mile away. One of her favorite games is to pretend to be a kitty (yes, sometimes in the middle of the grocery store). She has subsisted on stuffed kitties for a couple years. Then, for her 3rd birthday we got her a piggy bank and started telling her she needed to save for her cat. While we were trying to teach her about money, the plan somewhat backfired. She became a scavenger. She cleaned out our change drawers in the house and the car. She emptied my wallet and coin purse. She started asking her aunts and grandparents for “money for my kitty”. When that piggy bank was almost full (about October), it serendipitiously broke. We got a new HUGE piggy bank, thinking that would surely distract her and cause her to lose interest. Not so… she continued to save her coins (and anyone else’s coins that she managed to scrape together). In the meantime, she was content with visits to the local pet store, where the shelter has a number of cats for adoption on Saturdays. We would look, pet them, and head home. This was a pretty good arrangement.
However, with Bella gone…the house was lonely and suddenly a cat seemed like it might be OK. We went to look at one shelter, and while they had some cute little kittens, we didn’t find the right one. BUT, at the second shelter…Mr. Oliver Cat jumped right out of his cage, walked over to Ava, climbed into her lab, closed his eyes and started purring. Smartest damn cat alive! While he was friendly enough with us, he knew who he needed to impress in order to escape. Ava immediately said, “I think I have enough money for this one…”
And so, we are now cat owners. Its a new role for me. I have to say, I wasn’t sure about the cat thing. But, Oliver is a pretty cool cat. He LOVES the girls and has been really great with both of them. He sleeps with Ava at the foot of her bed (until late at night when he ventures into our room). He sits on her lap when she is playing or watching TV. He seems really very social and totally chill. I think he’s going to fit in just fine around here.
And yes, we did take all of the money she saved as a “cat payment”. She is still saving though, and when asked what she was going to save for now, she replied without skipping a beat, “Mittens.” ??????