Today he's been in top form. At 5:30 precisely, which is when I intend to start the Bird play but hardly ever achieve it, he came up behind me where I was sitting at the computer desk in the (open-backed) computer chair, stood on his hind legs and bopped me on my butt, saying clear as day, "hey, it's time to play!" So we played.
Later after supper I sat down to read, and noticed he'd disappeared. Now the living room, where my chair is, constitutes half the house, so it's not like it's a big hardship to expect him to stay around. (Three cat trees, four windows, real hardship there, right?)
So I called to him, "If you're not going to stay with me, I'm going to go watch tv." (He won't watch tv with me because the tv sights and sounds scare him. If he wasn't going to be with me when I wasn't doing a scary thing, I might as well go do the scary thing.)
Seconds later he bounds happily into the living room like a large squirrel; bounce, bounce, bounce, and settles in going from window to window. I read my book, and we were both happy with the situation!
Then when my bedtime rolled around, all eight o'clock of it, and I announced I was going to bed, he came over to get petted. I picked him up to hug him. I randomly do this. I'm trying to get him used to being picked up and held. It's still a bit unsettling to him but mostly he's okay with it now as long as I don't walk while holding him. We'll keep working on that.
But anyway, as I gathered him into my arms, he reached up with his nose and head butted me gently in the chin, a cat kiss of affection with a silent purr rumbling his body. So sweet! And so unexpected.
Something I'm beginning to suspect, though ... I think he's sleeping with me at night. Not all of the night, just the middle parts of it, and not actually in the bed with me. On my dresser in the corner there is a cat bed on a towel that covers the dresser top. That towel has been on that dresser since before I had cats at all, since I was a small child.
Well, this weekend when I vacuumed I discovered there was a fair amount of tracked litter on both the towel and the cat bed. He doesn't actually track a lot of litter at a time, so this means whatever's been going on has been going on for a while.
He could be staying there during the day while I'm at work, but he doesn't go there during the weekends during the day, and it seems odd that he would go there while there's daylight and pesky squirrels to watch out the windows. If he was frightened by noise outside the house he certainly wouldn't "hide" in a corner that has two walls to the outside world (noises coming through those walls would be louder than his traditional hideaway under the headboard).
The only thing that makes sense is that he's waiting until the middle of the night when he's sleepy and then coming in and taking a nap there while I'm asleep in bed. Since it's pitch black, I can't see him even when I do wake up in the middle of the night.
I'd like to think that's what's happening, after all. Pippin used to stay with me until I fell asleep and then leave, and I miss that more than I realized. It'd be nice if Apricot was at least coming in to stay with me while I slept.
But he is being so sweet in so many other ways, that it's okay whatever he does for sleeping arrangements. He's finally gotten the idea that I really really don't like being bitten, not even in play fight, not even a teeny tiny bite. So he's been stopping himself before he actually does it; turning his head away from my hand in mid-bite, even jumping up and running off if that's what it takes.
Now I'm trying to get him to understand that I'm not mad at him and I am proud that he's learned to at least try to avoid his instincts. I try to keep a toy within easy reach at all times (my living room looks like a toddler lives here) and if he avoids biting me even though he's riled up and playful, I will pick up a toy and offer it to him to bite instead. He's starting to get the concept that I can hold one end of a toy and he can bite the other, and I'm going to be pleased and happy with him--which was all he was trying to accomplish in the first place.
Not only is he looking forward to his goodnight kiss (he keeps me guessing where he wants this ritual to occur each night, but the crepe myrtle tree is a favorite so that's where I ask first), but he's starting to want a goodbye kiss in the morning, even with me having shoes on. He prefers goodbye kisses to occur on the cat tree, though--that way he's far away from clumsy feet in shoes. (Honestly, I've never come close to stepping on him in shoes. My bare feet, on the other hand (so to speak), have stepped on him twice now. Or is it three times?
He is such a adorable, loving cat. He is so very happy to be here in my house, safe from all the dangers of the outdoors (I'm never going to have to worry about this one darting for the doors!), safe from all the other humans and their unpredictability.
I'm so very glad we were able to find each other despite our anxiety issues. We're both much better with each other than on our own.
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| Happy to have the window between him and the great outdoors. |
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