Contemplating Animal Cruelty June 30, 2007

Let me say I am a firm believer in committed pet-ownership. I believe that when you get that adorable, teeny puppy or kitten, you should have to keep it until it dies. None of this parking-lot dropoff/giving away/humane society stuff. However, my cat’s life is currently on probation in a bad way. He’s already not my favorite due to several habits, including running for the door randomly (currently cured by MAKING him go outside periodically, which he seems to hate) and less-than-stellar litter box habits (thank goodness for tiled floors). Now he has committed the cardinal sin: waking up the baby on purpose. Repeatedly.

I can’t figure out why, but he has started going into Baby Girl’s room and meowing at her until she wakes up and cries. Not just in her bedroom–I mean right at her head, through the crib bars. Then he runs out at top speed. This has gone on for three days, every naptime and night. He never goes into her room otherwise. If I were him, I’d be staying as far away from her as possible (she likes to pummel, bounce, and chew on him). Mommy needs naptime to stay sane. I like to keep her bedroom door cracked because I still go in and do that paranoid-breathing-check every once in a while. So, I think, “Okay, I’ll just close the door.” His response: slamming himself up against her door and making a louder racket. And so it begins again.

Any animal behaviorists out there? I got nothing. As you can see, these antics leave him exhausted. I’m concerned for his mental health (and the fact that he is in mortal danger if this keeps up).

****The cat loses yet another life as I sit writing a blog about killing him: I just went downstairs to help BG go back to sleep (guess why), and left my Lean Cuisine lunch on the very top bookshelf to thwart Moses from stealing it. I come back upstairs to find gravy and broccoli splattered all over the wall and floor and my books. He ran off with a piece of meat still in his mouth. How in the world did he get up there to flip it over??? He’s obviously an evil genius. I’m going to kill him.****

No-so-brave Mommy Moment June 20, 2007

So, I suck at update blogs, apparently. BG is sleeping again (big yeah for me!), thanks to a white noise machine and probably other factors that don’t have anything to do with me at all. She’s still popping awake at 6:30 (annoyingly chipper) every morning, but I can handle that so far.

She went to the doc today to have her blood drawn (why? I asked, but no real answer–to check iron and for lead, mostly). This is a horrible thing. They strap her into a “papoose,” which is code for “velcro baby restraint board” and hold her little arm down to get the blood. She is so used to being wrapped in baby carriers that she didn’t really protest to that part. Unbelievably, she also didn’t even cry when the nurse stuck her and spent two very long minutes looking for a vein. She had told me beforehand that if they don’t get anything in 2 minutes, they try again next time. She started to fuss for the last 30 seconds or so, but the nurse gave up. All is fine at this point. I gather up all my things and start to head for the door. Then…everything goes gray and I almost pass out. It wasn’t even my arm, for Pete’s sake! I somehow didn’t drop BG and the nurses brought me water and made me sit with my head between my knees. This poor kid. Good thing she didn’t need me to be brave for her! I sometimes get this way with needles (blood and guts, no problem for some reason), but I had my blood drawn at least 15 times while I was pregnant and nothing. I don’t get it. I guess I shouldn’t have watched so closely, but I refused to leave her in there while they did it without me. Apparently lots of moms don’t stay in there for the blood draws, according to the nurses. Not that I seem to be doing much good, but how could I leave her in there to scream without me? Ten seconds later I was fine, and we went on our merry way. Jeez.

In other news, I just realized that it is June 20th, and I haven’t gotten my work assignment for the fall. This is probably not good. I do know I have a job of some sort (informally promised part-time by the big-wigs that matter), but I don’t know where, exactly. I am sort of hoping to continue with private/homeschool evals rather than be assigned to a school (and have to deal with all the school politics, etc). The fact that they haven’t called yet probably means that they are short-staffed and have no idea where to put everyone. Anyway, not good.

We are back home from our 2-week trip to camp in MO. Andrew is still there for 2 more weeks, though. We had lots of fun in the water, lots of fun with the worship music, and I have definitely ruled out MO as a place I’d like to live someday. There aren’t that many places on the list, mostly just places I have ruled out for sure (Oklahoma is up there, too). I also saw 5 armadillos and shopped at the world’s smallest Wal-mart. Note to self: plan a real vacation. That paragraph is pathetic…