David and Tommy -- separate but equal
So Prince David and the incumbent monarch Tommy (cat) have finally learned to coexist at my parents' house. When David was an infant, I did not see Tommy around, well, ever. He was very sensitive to David's cries, which were as loud as they were frequent. Tommy also quickly learned that all the fussing over this and that was no longer for him, so I'm sure that that influenced him to self-exile himself to "less favored nation status"...to some quiet corner of a closet somewhere where it was quiet and he didn't have to be reminded of why his ears were ringing or why no one was rushing to get him some wet food.

This season, at David's 21 months, the human was able to be taught how to walk and talk more gently. "Gentle" was a term he already learned at daycare, but the cat there is far more tolerant of babies' cries and small toddler noises so he needed no pre-conditioning. Now, we hold his hand and walk gently into the room where Tommy is resting and we say "shhhh", and David gives a complicit and silent nod, sometimes quietly (and adorably imprecisely) mimicking the finger to the mouth gesture to indicate that it's quiet time.

The crowning moment of our apparent achievement was when Tommy actually emerged from his usual spot and came out to the living room one otherwise insignificant evening as we were going about the usual bustle of evening activity. He didn't seem bothered by the presence of "that small but awfully loud human thing" and actually sat quite close to him without much fanfare, behaving rather as if he had been doing this for weeks. We didn't make a big deal about it so as to startle him, but we were tickled all the same. Things won't quite be the same henceforth, as we now get to simultaneously enjoy the company of BOTH, small, spoiled but darling brats of the Chun household.
- posted by Connie @ 12/29/2008 11:36:00 AM