Thimble's Graduation

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday ... All week Thimble has been trying to convince me that he was a good boy, yes he was, and he could stay out of the crate at night, yes he could, and he would be such a good boy, yes he would.

I was skeptical.

Thursday night I was so tired that in order to have enough energy to make the bed and go to bed, I had to take a nap. I lay down on top of the comforter, set my alarm for half an hour (which would make it 8) and closed my eyes.

Thimble was ever so polite. He didn't try to go under the covers (I had the quilt on top of me). He didn't try to get me to wake up. He lay down on the headboard and watched. It's a wide headboard since it's a bookshelf headboard. (Not that I can have books in it anymore as I'm allergic to them now, so it's got three dust-mite-proofed pillows in it so I don't end up with my head in the bookshelf, as has happened.)

When I made the bed, after I finally got back up at 8:30, he was extremely polite. He didn't try to kill the sheets as they moved across the bed to my tugging and straightening. He didn't try to go underneath except once and backed off immediately when I removed him from the bed, instead of bouncing back like a fur covered yo-yo as usual.

And he kept catching my eye and looking very innocent. Not the sort of look that makes you wonder, "now what's he done?" but the sort of look that says, "I can be a good boy, are you noticing?"

The only time that whole week that he hadn't been a good boy was when I tried to put him in the crate. I don't "catch" him or chase him; I simply walk after him slowly until he gives up to the inevitability of it all, but he'd been drawing this out longer and longer. He didn't want to be in the crate any longer.

That night I gave up. I said he could be out, but if I got any complaints from the others, or if he woke me up or kept me awake, back in the crate he'd go.

He was an angel. He slept on the headboard, a place the other two don't go to sleep. And I have missed my kitty on the headboard. Colby was there by my shoulder when I woke up in the morning, and Apricot came to see me.

Subsequent nights didn't go so well, and things went downhill until the next Sunday night, when I lost patience after Thimble used the door curtain as an ambush spot and wouldn't leave my walking top alone after being asked multiple times. I put him in the crate--to his astonishment and hurt horror.

So Monday night I left him out again, yet Colby didn't come back to my shoulder spot on the bed either night. It is Tuesday night, and I'm still debating if Thimble goes into the crate or not tonight.

Perhaps Apricot's peculiar behavior should influence my decision, but in which direction, I am not certain. Hm.