Because he's a very observant baby and is starting to show even more interest in the world around him, Kent has had several controlled cat encounters in the past week. I'll hold him with one arm, then pet a kitty with the other hand while he watches, and then I let him have a go at it. Right now, he's mostly reaching and not really petting or grabbing or anything, but I figured I'd get him started early with how to pet a cat properly (perhaps instilling in him the benefits of not pulling their tails), as well as acclimating the cats to having a little-boy hand touching them. So far, they've been mostly unimpressed with him, but at least they stick around for a minute or two before walking away. This is much better than their previous reaction of scurrying out of sight whenever he moved an arm or made a noise.

At 13.5 pounds, Kent now outweighs both the cats, which is only the case because Patti has lost almost 4 pounds in the last year or so. She definitely had it to spare, so yay for her! At first, when we came home from the hospital and I had been used to picking up a six-pound baby exclusively for a couple of days, the cats seemed monstrously huge, but now they seem like their normal size again, since he's getting bigger. Soon, he'll be crawling/walking/running after them, which should be pretty funny for us to watch. He's sort of our third cat, though unlike Celia and Patti, he will soon learn to speak our language instead of just saying "meh" in annoyance like they do.

There have been a few times when I've been nursing Kent on the sofa, and Celia has jumped up for affection. After I pet her a few times, she'll start head-butting Kent. I'm not sure what she thinks he's going to do — drop what he's doing and pet her? — but she does it anyway. She's even managed to situate herself next to him on the Boppy pillow once or twice, which is very sweet. Soon, they'll all be snuggling like old friends. Our three cats. Ha.

Labels: felines, Kent

• posted by erica 10/10/2007 05:13:00 PM
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