The teaser I left you with the other day had something to do with Kent, his stuffed tiger-kitty Mike, and matching outfits, did it not? He has this tiger-striped kitty, given to him by Nikki and John for his birthday, whom we named Mike in honor of LSU's mascot. He's kept Mike at a safe distance for a while now, never wanting to get too close for too long, but yesterday, that went out the window. I decided that it might behoove us to have a third party involved in our conversations and daily routines — why not Mike? Yesterday, Mike helped Kent decide which diaper to pick out of his basket to wear next, he sampled some of Kent's food for him, he played with Kent's play food and play kitchen (loves wooden oranges and fish, hates wooden bread, burps ridiculously after drinking wooden milk), he sat on the potty before Kent did, he was consulted at various points of the day about his opinion on matters of state, etc. I really got into it. And having Mike to show things to and do things for seemed to give Kent a greater sense of control, something he badly needs in this, um, "sensitive" phase of his development. He usually seems like he could go off at any moment. I'll just say that Mike has been a comfort to both of us.

All this buddying-up yesterday culminated in Kent's silly mom deciding that maybe Kent and Mike ought to wear matching diapers before bathtime. Kent pulled out his zoo-print Fuzzi Bunz (thanks, Joanna!), so he got to wear one, and Jack managed to get the other one on Mike. It was so inappropriately sized for this little stuffed kitty that Mike looked a bit like he was sprouting out of the top of it, actually. Here's a video of them playing, with Kent proudly proclaiming "zoo!" when I ask him what kind of diaper they're both wearing. (FYI, "zoo" basically functions as a color in his mind, since his other diapers are all solids.)



And here's how Jack chose to commemorate Mike's role in all of this:



When we named this kitty over the summer, I wasn't thinking at all about the fact that my dad was also named Mike/Michael, but the coincidence certainly isn't lost on me now. It's nice that Kent's new little friend has the same name as the grandfather he never got to meet.

Labels: felines, Kent, my dad, photography

• posted by erica 2/04/2009 09:15:00 PM
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