Teaching Moment: Patting a Cat
Before I had my two little boys I had my 'other two boys'.My rather large boys cats answer mostly to Argo and Finlay - but mainly they answer to the sound of biscuits hitting their food bowl.
Argo is very handsome and refuses to believe he is indeed a cat. Finlay is secretly a grumpy old man in a grey fur coat who has an aversion to anyone under 2 foot. They were our 'babies' and as such they were constantly showered with love and affection, especially from GeekDad, who at the time thought they could do no wrong.
And then we did the unthinkable we brought home another baby to add to our family. And everything changed.
CheekyMonkey consumed every hour of our day in those first few months; there was simply no time for cuddles on the couch, sleeping late on our bed or helping GeekDad play his favourite game into the wee hours of the morning. It was offical they were now 'persona no gratis'.
They declared war making it quite clear they would not accept this new title without a good fight. They proceeded to adopt their own version of torture sleep deprivation tactics by crying and scratching our bedroom door insessantly throughout the night asking for more food, water, love or my personal favourite because they could.
Undeterred we stayed strong (to this day I'm not sure how, as we were extremely sleep deprived) but eventually the cats realised the following:
a) CheekyMonkey was a permanent guest not on loan,
b) Mum and Dad would not be relenting anytime soon to the No Bed Rule and
c) The No Bed Rule also meant the No Couch Rule if CheekyMonkey was couch bound.
And lets face it in the first months I'm pretty sure I spent 90% of the time on the couch, if not breastfeeding them pumping away in the vain hope my milk supply would increase. Which only left the carpet or the top of the TV (we still had the biggest CRT TV Monitor back then) as a place to lick their wounded souls and shoot me the occasional death stare. I say 'me', because they were relunctant to make GeekDad the bad guy just yet.
They soon cottoned on to that fact that if I was up in the wee hours feeding CheekyMonkey they too could have a midnight feed if they limited the pestering to a bare minimum. I must give them credit for waiting until I had enhaled enough chocolate to feed a small army before assaulting me as I made my way back to bed.
In those first few months the cats kept a respectful distance from CheekyMonkey wary of the little being who made alot of noise.
But as our son began to spend more time on the floor I knew the time had come for the entire family to commit to a healthy relationship of tolerance and respect.*
The first step required CheekyMonkey and the cats acknowledging the others existance
And so let the lessons commence!
Step 1. Slowly approach the cat and offer your hand up for a sniff.
Step 2. Once the cat sniffs your hand you can go in for a pat.
As this was not recorded for posterity lets try and capture the spirit of how this step recently unfolded as DreamBaby learns to pat Argo.
Me: "Bubs be gentle"
"GENTLE......GENNNNNTTTTTTTLLLLLLLE"
DreamBaby: Grabs a handful of fur a little too tightly.
Argo the Cat: "MEOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
DreamBaby: "BWAHH BWAHH BWAHHHHHH"
Me: "Ohhhhhhh ......... (insert your favourite swear word and you get the picture)"
Teaching your baby to pat gently and not grab a fistful of fur is one thing but teaching your toddler head butting may not be the best way to get your cats attentions will no doubt fall on deaf ears.
Because really who wouldn't want to rumble with an 8 kilo grey fuzzy ball of fluff if you had the chance.
-- Hannah
