The Cat Carrier

Recently, Little Man discovered that he could pick up a cat, all by himself, and was he ever proud! He was so proud, in fact, that he spent the better part of an hour carrying the surprisingly cooperative kitty, Niles, all around the house, with Nana in tow to make sure that no boys nor animals were harmed during this exercise.

Later, as I was thinking, "I wonder what would happen if he tried to pick up Frasier like that," he did, and Frasier, too, let himself be carted from room to room.

You can't beat Burmese cats for sweetness and fun.

The kitties are learning, to their delight, that Little Man and The Fred like to play with them. Niles likes the little boy, as you can see from the various contortions he let himself be plied into, and as soon as I can teach Little Man that the tail is not a handle (I'm still trying to teach Grandpa this, as well), all parties will be happy.

Happy Feet (Little Man 1.5)

The last time Little Man came to visit, he came with some new features. He’s a year and a half old now, and during that weekend he reorganized my spice rack (I did the labels, which seemed smart since half of the jars were out of the pantry anyway), worked out with my hand weights, and ran around the house in Grandpa’s big shoes.

Also, he’s taken up dancing. We were trying to figure out what step he’s doing—it looks like a cross between the merengue and the salsa, with a little hand clapping thrown in. Whatever it is, he has a really good time. He was so tired by the time we took him to the pool, I think he was practically napping on the float.

Another feature of Little Man 1.5 is that he’s learned to give treats to the pets—in a manner of speaking. We taught him to toss koi food into the pond. Once, when some of the food fell short, he tried to pick up every piece that he’d dropped. He’s a detail person.

Next, I showed him how I toss a few kitty treats onto the floor at the cats’ dinner time. (Frasier loves that—he thinks he’s actually hunting.) Little Man began following the cats around, tossing various snack items at them. He loves to share—he always has, even when it involved food that he absolutely adored.

On Monday, the day after they left, I found a Cheese Nip in the cats’ bed.

To see an example of Little Man’s happy feet, click on the 'play' button below!

He Needs a Project

It was bound to happen. His grandpa always has some type of project going around the house. He has to be creating (or re-creating) something to be truly happy.

Along the same lines, his daddy grew up in a house where we demolished and rebuilt rooms for fun. Now that he's all grown up with a home of his own, he usually has a home improvement project for the weekends, as well.

One day soon after the baby was born in January 2007, I told Mommadrool, "He needs a project." Sometimes, he would just look a little bored. Maybe it seems silly to think that an infant is bored, but nonetheless . . .

Then he started to sit up, and later to crawl. Well, now he is just way too busy to sit still anymore, unless he's falling asleep.

He's nearly fourteen months old now, and last Saturday when they were all visiting, Mommadrool walked into the den and announced, "You know that package of pencils that he opened in the home office? He is taking the pencils, one at a time, scooting over to the other side of the room and depositing them there. One by one, he's moving the pencils from one side of the room to the other."

I chuckle every time I look at the two piles of pencils on the carpet. We're not sure of the purpose of this little endeavor, but I'm really glad he's finally big enough to have a project.