1 Mother 2 Another

Maddie’s had her kitten for nearly a
week now, and for the past few nights she’s gotten closer and
closer to sleeping with it. We originally put the kitten in the
bathroom at night, so it wouldn’t keep Maddie awake all
night. But Maddie’s been asking and last night she got up the
courage to give it a try. So it was a Kitten Slumber Party.


I have not had to get up with one of the girls at night for over a
week (!) so I was in the midst of a profound, deep sleep when I
heard a knocking on our door. Maddie was in tears, clutching her
cheek. “I got up to turn on the ceiling fan, and when I got
back in bed the kitten hissed and scratched me really bad! It
really really hurts!”

I brought the sobbing girl into our bed
and went to check on Damien – er, the kitten. When I crept
into the room, the sleepy kitten mewed and nuzzled up against me.
Hmm, not sporting a split personality, then.


I went back to Maddie, her sobs subsiding but still stuck to Daddy.
I explained that she might have leaned on the kitten’s tail
when she got back in bed, or surprised her out of sleep. I then
offered to move the kitten to the bathroom for the rest of the
night so Maddie could go back to sleep worry-free.


“No,” she said hesitantly, “I want to try
again.” So back Maddie went to her room, and talked with the
cat a bit, wide awake.


I, of course, heard the whole conversation through her monitor, and
since I was worried about another “attack” I was
listening rather closely to the chatter. I finally drifted into an
exhausted sleep around 4:30 a.m.


6 a.m. came with another knock on the door. Wearily, I called,
“Come in,” and in came Maddie. “I decided it was
just time for me to get up,” she said, snuggling up next to
me in the bed. I think the girl was having a hard time sleeping
deeply with all the kitten eating and scratching and playing that
was going on, and I convinced Maddie to cuddle with me for a while.
Ten minutes later she was out, and slept for a good hour.


I, on the other hand, had to get up and get moving on the day. I am
bleary-eyed and dragging, and resentful that my week-long streak of
lovely sleep was so brutally ended. And there is, of course, no end
in sight until Maddie and kitten learn to co-exist together at
night.


Sigh.