Guess What We Did?

Being a classroom teacher has showed me in a million and 3 different ways that children learn at all different paces and in all different styles. But even my students who take the longest to grasp a new concept have got me beat when it comes to certain things. 

Animals. As in inviting them into my home and life. 

When Mark said he wanted a puppy, I jumped and down thinking only of the big feet, loose skin, floppy ears and wiggly bottom of a puppy. That plus the puppy breath and I was a goner before we even went and picked up Mercy. Now, 6 weeks later, I am thinking of how she has peed on my brand new carpet, vomited all over my car when Mark left her in there and then tracked said vomit over each and every seat, and the time when she vomited fish guts and other nasty stuff right in front of our fireplace (again on my brand new carpet). Throw in the cost of her dog food and vet bills and I have a new gray hair out of all this. I wish I had the power of seeing the future when Mark said he wanted a puppy because I think I would have put my foot down and said "NO WAY!". 

That's if I wasn't a "slow-learner"! Because apparently I hadn't learned my lesson. Some friends of ours told us their cat was pregnant and they asked if we wanted a new kitten. 

Well, we couldn't get just one - nope- we had to get two. One for each of the boys of course! 

So let me explain how we ended up with three...

I was visiting with Mark's mom and telling her how we were going to have two new kittens that were going to grow up and be such terrific mousers and gopher hunters that when they had kittens, people would be begging us for them and willing to pay top dollar. She got excited about the thought of such terrific hunters and asked me if I could wrangle her a kitten also for her house. I said sure and called our friends and told them we would take another kitten please. They gladly told us yes and that they would bring the kittens to us when we got back from the beach. 

(Tiger)

Before we left for the beach we decided to stop by one day and check the kittens out. The boys were over the moon at the fact that we were allowing them to have their very own pet and they couldn't wait to see them and name them. As we looked over the kittens, Owen picked out a sweet little gray one with a stubby tail that he named Smokey, Caleb grabbed a friendly, striped-one which he promptly dubbed Tiger and that left one kitten left for Mark's mom. Perfect! This kitten was a little darker in color and it had an interesting feature - a tail that was crooked and only half the length of a regular tail. 

Once we got home, I called Mark's mom and told her all about her new kitty. 

She was excited until I got to the part concerning the tail.

Here's how the conversation went:

Me: ...and she is so cute! You are just going to love her! She has a little pink nose, four soft little paws, and a kinky half-tail -

Mom: What!? What do you mean a half-tail?

Me: Well, her tail is about half the length of a regular tail and it has a slight bend in it like it's been broken.

Mom: Umm... I don't think I want the kitten. Is that bad? I don't want an ugly cat. Don't tell anyone though.

Me: I won't tell anyone Mom (ha!). 

(Smokey)

Out of feelings of guilt and pity I explained to my husband that we would be taking on all three kitties. 

He was not amused but then I won him over by explaining that the third one would be our spare in case one of the boys' kitties died (life in the country is hard on cats). That made sense to him. 

Never having owned a cat in my life, I have had to quickly learn that they are a lot different from dogs. 

And I mean a lot. 

Mercy vs. The Kitties

Round 1: Potty Training

Mercy - Up all hours of the night, watching her like a hawk, walking her to the middle of our field so she can learn how to go poop in the pasture rather than our yard...

Score - 4

The Kitties - Take them one at a time to the litter box, scratch their paws in it and tell them to go potty there. Done.

Score - A perfect 10

Round 2: Loveability Factor

Mercy - So sweet and generous with her kisses, becoming more of a cuddler and her whole body lights up and wiggles is she hasn't seen you in all of 10 minutes. 

Score - 10

The Kitties - For the first week that we had them, they were skittish and I was a little concerned about our abilities to domesticate them. I've been bribing them with milk and trying to teach them to come when I call "Here Kitty Kitties". I didn't think it was working until yesterday. I think they had a conference and decided our family wasn't all bad because they now follow me around the garage and when I sat down yesterday they all climbed into my lap and revved up their motors for the first time. Purring kittens in your lap is wonderful! They were so sweet and I was won over in about 2.3 seconds. 

Score - 8 

(Minka or Half-Tail depending on if it's me or Mark calling her)

I will continue to watch carefully and see how Mercy stacks up compared to The Kitties but unless she gets her little bladder and vomiting episodes under control I'm afraid it's not much of a contest. 

On another note, once it got around that we are accepting animals we were offered a goat (which I thought would have been fun but Mark firmly said "I don't think so") and two chickens which I was excited about but the planets didn't line up on that deal either. 

So for now we are a strictly 2 dog and 3 kitty farm. 

For now...