We discourage Stella from settling on Claire’s play quilts (a pathetic attempt to reduce cat hair, ha!). But of course, Stella must assert herself — only so far. It’s rather sweet.
Also, I’m showing off. Go see this photo and this photo.
Try visiting here for a few minutes [make sure your sound control is on and the volume turned up a little].
She nearly rolled herself over from back to belly. (She’s done belly to back several times already.)
Well, Claire wound up sleeping until 12:15 p.m. today, woke to eat, then fell back asleep until 1:30, when we so rudely awoke her to depart for our dinner. We arrived, the food was assembled, we ate (the food was delicious). Claire remained awake and chipper in her bouncer until 3 p.m.; while I ate, I’d jiggle her rattles and play with her. We just finished eating when she became hungry. After she ate she was very tired; she began to fuss. Husband took her to a quiet room where she cried until she fell asleep on him around 4:15. We had dessert (apple pie, chocolate pecan bourbon pie, and fudge) and departed around 5:15. We were all relaxed; even the toddlers were well-behaved. And Stella had a good day:
Now it’s almost 8 p.m. and I’m tired. Husband put Claire to bed about an hour ago; I heard brief crying, then silence. (He’s sleeping on the floor of her room. It’s just easier to do that than climb up and down stairs constantly.) I should get some Zzzzzzs too. I’m so glad we went.
New photos of Claire are up at Flickr for friends and family! She’s getting all growed up — she’ll be 11 weeks old as of Saturday.
A venerable friend died this morning. My brother and sister-in-law (Aunt LP)’s cat, Theo, died at home of renal failure and old age. He was 14. I was the first person they called in 1993 when they adopted him in kittenhood. He was a damn smart cat, their genius kitty; as my brother said, Theo “knew how the outside was connected to the inside (though he’d never been), how to open doors and cabinets, and how to make us smile.” I’m so sad he’s gone. He was a wonderful furry family member. If you have animal companions at home, give them a little extra love today.
This is a photo of an old photo of Theo I snapped when I first moved to Austin in 1994.
Are we really sure the purring is coming from the kitty and not from our very own hearts?
–Emme Woodhull-Bäche, translated
[thanks to Leah for sharing the quotation]