The Cat (P wishes there was a hat)

My parents have dogs. Have always had a dog. I like animals (hulloh, PETA?), but had never done googoo talk about them with P. Then a friend mentioned how differently kids react to pets, based on how their parents react to pets. That her kid always points out pups, just like she does. And that her gal pal's kids' eyes just passed right past the pooches. Hmmm, it was time for a little experiment.

So, the next time I noticed a cute dog (I do looooove cute dogs, I just hadn't voiced it before), I voiced it. It took about, oh, two times, before P followed suit. Of course, my curiosity concerning the case of mentoring has backfired wildly. The child now wants a dog.

But we have a cat. The Little Man's long suffering companion. She should, if sane, seriously dislike the child. But she adores him. Has since the day he popped into her life, screaming. It drove me mad. Every time the child wailed, and he wailed A Lot, she would slink into the room and yowl her empathy. As loudly as she could. And the cat has pipes like no other.

Since her early days of devotion, she has let the Little Man chase her, while growling, carry her, while gloating, and box her, while grinning. And she seems. to. like. it. She could quite easily hide, outrun him. But she rarely does. She sprints off and slides to a stop, smiling. Sometimes she yowls at him and he recognizes this as her sign, too much, too fast, too rough. But nary a hiss or a swipe. Were it another cat, he would be scarred for sure.

He's returning the love these days. He feeds her a few times a week, talking to her sweetly. Drags strings for her when she doesn't want to be chased. Pets her while he plays. But mostly, his new trick is to carry her.

She's a full bodied feline. We call it big boned here, despite her delicate paws. So the child has had to grow into the challenge. He used to just hoist her under her front arms and let her dangle along the front of him. His height (or lack thereof) meant that her back paws paddled across the floor, trying to match his stumbling pace. Then he grew a bit, in height and strength, and now grunts as he grabs her belly in both arms. She seems happy, just pleased to be noticed by the object of her affection. P's mentioned in passing how he'd like to dress her, but I think that may be pushing our luck :)