HurtingbutHappy: The cat and the baby. At least they understand each other.

So, it's been what most mom's probably consider a "normal" day, but, as you know, it's the little things that bring me so much joy.

Laura left early today to go to an event. (Congratulations, Peter Sterling on graduating!!!). So, it was just the kids and me this afternoon. Aria Grace had been having a very rough day. Starting last night when she woke up absolutely screaming. Because she has such a set of lungs, this scream wakes me out of a dead sleep, and I'm pretty sure all the neighbors are concerned as well. When Aria cries, Noah panics and starts screaming and crying too. She's okay now, and I'm pretty sure we got the problem fixed. It's funny how babies can communicate without speaking. We knew very clearly that something was hurting Aria, but she couldn't tell us exactly what. This afternoon, I took her in to change a diaper, and she very clearly communicated to me that she didn't want to wear a sleeper. She wants her feet to be free. No, no socks either. She doesn't understand our compulsive need to cover up her feet. That just makes it so hard to get her toes in her mouth! Yes, she communicated all of that.

So, I laid her in her crib, turned to leave, and asked the cat if she wanted to come or if she was staying with the baby. I don't know why I ask. She ALWAYS wants to stay in the room with the baby. Before you believers of old wives tales freak out, I have very carefully watched the cat with the baby (and the baby with the cat), and I trust Isis. She loves Aria. I'm more concerned about Aria accidentally hurting the cat. So I let Isis stay. If she's in the crib (which she rarely does anymore because Aria likes to grab her fur), I leave the door cracked open and check every few minutes. Often they are both asleep, Isis' head resting on Aria's little feet, or very nearby. I posted a photo of that in a previous blog entry.

Anyway, today the cat was sitting on a footstool in the middle of the room, very clearly communicating that she would be staying with Aria. Fine. I went about my business washing my hands, trying to remember what I had been doing etc . . . Just as the back of my pants grazed the seat of my chair, I heard the cat meowing. She wanted out already?! I did some sort of yoga move which involved sitting down and standing up at the same time and hurried back in there to let her out. I opened the door to see the cat sitting across the room on the changing table. She looked surprised to see me. She hadn't been asking to come out of the room, she was in the middle of some sort of speech or stand-up routine for her favorite little audience. It was like the only thing missing was a miniature microphone stand. I'm sure that if I had a translator she would have been saying "So, what is the deal with parents and socks?!"

Aria was, of course, watching her and smiling. She understood.