Alex and the cat

From the archives: Beautiful Wife and Dear Alex, back when winter was fun.










Dear Alex is "so tired" that she must pretend-nap immediately.











Menacing hairy things, or decorative throw pillows? You decide.




I miss Beautiful Wife something fierce. It was that kind of day for Dear Alex, too, though she's not really talking about it all that much, but you can tell. She alternates between bursts of energy and crankiness, and has added a new thing - bringing her blankets from the crib, and flopping on the floor in a perfect demonstration of ennui. Dear Alex just lays down, as if to say "I'm so tired".
On the upside, I've been getting a lot more attention from the girl, with elaborate hugs and kisses and climbing on daddy - usually as she's asking "Are you happy, daddy?" You can't really say no to that.

I can relate to the tired thing, though, as last night we had "The curious incident of the cat in the night-time" again, as Dear Alex woke me up at 4 in the morning screaming "Daddy daddy daddy! Cat in MY rocking chair! Cat daddy daddy daddy!" There's a lot about this I really don't understand, because it raises so many questions. First of all, because we've had this happen before, we have an elaborate policy that's become part of the bedtime ritual: "Inner door open, outer door closed"
(Dear Alex has a short hallway leading to her room and bath) The door was closed. (Easy answer, cat was in the room at bedtime and I missed her in my usual "do we have two cats?" sweep of the closets and room.) Second, how did she know there was a cat there, and more specifically, that it was Gracie? It's one thing to say that, well, the cat made that cat noise (that Dear Alex loves to imitate - "MEEE-OWWWW, MAO!") But both of them squeak like that. It was dark in the room, so I didn't, couldn't say which one it was until I got a light on - It was indeed Gracie. Third, why did it bother her so much,( she likes the cats and spends good parts of her day chasing them around) and just when did it become her rocking chair? It's not like the cat was trying to climb into her crib and suffocate her, or claw her eyes out or anything like that.(Fortunately, neither one of the cats has anything close to a temper - and they're about as threatening as decorative throw pillows - which they kind of resemble) Dear Alex is just kind of territorial, I guess. I'm still baffled as to how she knew it was Gracie, and why it was important enough to wake me up in the middle of the night. It's one of those unknowable mysteries (that only Dear Alex has the answer to) that she's just not going to tell me.
We removed Gracie, had a diaper change and a hug and I eventually got back to sleep, just in time to wake up.