Patience Is A Kitty Virtue

These are my furry children. Guiliani Rufus and Princess Layla Penelope. They love to sit a the windows and watch the birds, small woodland creatures, turkeys, peacocks (yes, we have wild peacocks running around), and neighborhood cats run around the yard. Before Isaac was born, I was pretty worried as to how they would adapt. Especially Guiliani.

Guiliani was my first baby. Seriously. And he is a Mama's Boy and proud of it. He went all BAT $#%@ CRAZY when I brought Layla into the house. He was actually fine with her. Just not with me. He was beyond angry at me for bringing another cat into his house in which he reigned as king. Whenever I would do anything with Layla, he would hiss at me. I remember when I brought her home, he sniffed the carrier, looked directly in my eyes, hissed and gave me a look that clearly said "what the hell did you do?!" Because of this reaction and our mommy-kitty bond, I was a little worried how he would react to the baby. I mean, the cat sleeps on my head...or back....or legs....pretty much whatever he can get to. And he follows me around.

Turns out I really didn't have anything to worry about....

And just fyi, that is my 9 day old newborn (see how big the binky is? as I sob quietly at how fast he's grown)

They turned into naptime pals and their sleepy-time relationship continued to grow....

(Note: you'll notice that there are no more pictures of Layla. This is because to this day she chooses to pretend that Isaac does not actually exist. True story)

Anyway, he and Isaac were all buddy-buddy. And then one day Isaac seemed to realize "Hey! That little black thing moves! It makes noise! I want to grab it!"

That marked the beginning of this:

He's been pretty good about it. And truthfully, so has Layla. Isaac loves to grab at them. We are trying to teach him to "pet the kitty nice." And he tries sometimes. Most times, petting them involves grabbing fistfulls of fur (and skin) and yanking.

Both Layla and Guiliani handle it remarkably well. As opposed to me, who when Isaac grabs a handful of my hair and yanks may or may not scream in pain and yell curse words (not at the baby...I don't swear at him. Just at the painful situation). They usually just sit there and take it. It's like they understand he's a baby and doesn't know any better. And if I did that, you can bet I would have scratches all over my arms.

IT'S LIKE THEY HAVE PATIENCE!

Which I surely do not have a lot of. I have never been very patient, but I am learning to be more so because of the baby. But just with the baby. With my husband, yeah not so much.

Guiliani is also very patient during those sleepless night as I pace up and down the hall, bouncing a wide-awake, ready to party baby back to sleep. He simply lays on the rug or back of the couch, waiting for me to put Isaac back in his crib so we can return to the bed and he can resume his position on my head. Or back. Or legs.

He hasn't been getting alot of sleep these days either, so most days he ends up looking like this:

Again, levels of patience that I, myself do not demonstrate as illustrated by the late night begging I do, pleading Isaac to just go back to sleep for another few hours.

However, as Isaac can now move himself toward the kitties as they slumber peacefully, they are becoming increasingly wary of them. It is only a matter of time before he is chasing them with a little plastic bat! (Note: I will not encourage this behavior. But it's bound to happen. I can already see it)