T minus 9 and 10 days until my two acupuncture final exams and my brain is mush. Just figuring out those numbers took a bit too much mental effort. But strangely it calmed me a bit since I’ve been running around for days screeching, “It is NEXT #$%=&*ing WEEK!!!!!”  Nine days away seems farther off even if it is saying the same thing.

Anyway, I am deliberately not thinking about that right now and will instead regale you with the story of how my darling animals survived the weekend with a one year old human.

The cats:

I was most concerned about them in terms of my allergic brother. Riley used to sleep in the guest room but has been haughtily avoiding it since we changed the furniture. So I get up after the first night and the door to the guest room is cracked open. Riley comes strolling out. He had decided to go in for a cuddle. He can’t conceive of a world where this is not welcome and my SIL cuddled with him thus reinforcing this view.

Powder is still adjusting to life off the armoire. She is pretty brave upstairs but hasn’t ventured downstairs much. Last week she planted herself firmly in the living room to watch the new people. She’d casually swat the dog if she got fresh instead of running away.

Both cats were an object of fascination to the kid. We know this because they were laying on tables at her eye level and she kept talking to them. She says, “Hi” in a quiet, breathy voice and it comes out a lot like a hiss. So she’d get eye to eye with a cat, hiss at them, and grab their face in the palm of her hand. Repeatedly. Neither cat even flinched.  (I tried to face palm Riley and he didn’t tolerate it from me.)

Freckles:

She was very scared of Freckles last time they met. This time Freckles forged an alliance based on the fact that the kid has access to lots of food. Freckles’ name was now “WooWoo” which is baby for woof woof.

The kid could get a cracker from her mother any time she asked. Then she’d toddle off to another room with Freckles walking behind her. In a bit they’d be back for another cracker. Who ate the first cracker was never clear. This was going well for everyone involved until the kid got yet another cracker from her mom, turned, and gave it directly to Freckles. Freckles knew the gravy train was over. She took the cracker while giving the kid an I’m Very Disappointed In You look.

She was also disappointed in my brother who is tall and therefore takes up more than his share of space on the couch. He would not let her sit on top of him which baffled Freckles. In her world if humans are hogging the furniture you lay on top of them until they learn some manners.

The kid was encouraged during a car ride to share her crackers with her stuffed bear. I pointed out the double standard of sharing with the bear who didn’t appreciate it but getting cut off for sharing with the WooWoo, who clearly was appreciative. No wonder she was such an easy mark for Freckles to talk into sharing crackers!