Tonya,
It has been awhile. Good to hear from you!
I SO appreciated your emails! They made me laugh and
laugh! The story you shared about your sister and baby
Tyler is EXACTLY the same picture I see when I
visualize my little girl growing up in our home!
It is so amazing that you mention Tyler's and Barney's
antics, because my younger sister had her first child
back on February 25, 2003 (a little boy they named
Jacob) and he absolutely LOVE animals! Every time they
came over he would sit and squill at my kitties with a
huge goofy grin on his face.
When he turned two (2) and was walking, he would try
and chase the kitties, tripping all the way! LOL. But
he never cared. He is truly a happy child.
My kids (kitties) on the other hand did not care for
Jacob at all. There was NEVER any fussing, fighting or
territorial aggression physically displayed with my
kids towards baby Jacob.
As you (and several others) have mentioned, my kids
would either sit out of child's reach and just stare
at him or avoided Jacob completely. It was obvious
that baby Jacob was more tickled with them than they
were about him! LOL.
The idea that Tyler thinks he is a dog just cracked me
up! I can SO relate! With so many "animals" in our
home I can see where my little girl can become
confused with her identity! LOL.
All of her newborn clothes (so far) are done in pink
kitties! My husband teases me that I may get away with
dressing her up in "kitty" themed clothes for the
first couple of years, but eventually she will want to
dress herself and he is laying bets that she will
choose to NOT be dressed as a cat! LOL.
Her nursery is in all kitties too. Not the typical
"Hello Kitty" or Disney Marie" kitties either. They
are overrated.
Instead I had to literally piece together her
accessories throughout my entire pregnancy as pink
"bunnies" "lambs" and "bears" tend to be the standard
norm.
Unfortunately, not a lot of companies make "kitty"
anything for babies and when they do it is basically
for a "test run" to see if the item sell well.
Therefore, not a lot duplicates of that particular
item are manufactured. It is difficult, but fun.
So anyway, I can see the possibility of my little
thinking that she is a "cat", having a best friend who
is a cat or adopting one of the kitties as a security
blanket! LOL.
I can see her doing all the stuff that baby Tyler does
for and to Barney! Pulling on the cat's tail and the
cat patiently putting up with it, kissing the cat(s),
feeding the cat(s) human baby food through the playpen
or deliberately dropping it onto the floor from the
highchair, playing like a cat and of course she will
probably prefer the cat's toys over her own!
I can even see the cats willing giving up their toys
so that they can have hers in exchange! LOL! Which of
course they will most likely destroy on impact!
I can even see myself (or my husband) yelling the
child's name, no and the cat's name, no as they
conspire against me in some crazy antic that they KNOW
is wrong.
Like tipping over the kitchen trash-can together, the
child letting the cat outside because the cat knows
she will "let" him, or the cat deliberately dragging
the very item to the child that I said she could NOT
have! LOL.
But yes I have to completely, without a doubt, agree
that children raised with or around animals are
happier babies they grow into even happier children.
Children raised around animals learn at an early age
not to abuse them, they eventually learn to love (or
at the very least accept) animals and having fur-kids
interacting with human kids helps aid the child's
hand-eye movement and motor skills.
Personally, I think kids who are raised around animals
are smarter and develop faster then children who are
not.
Although there is not a veterinarian currently within
our family, we also have hopes for our daughter
choosing a career path in veterinary medicine.
I have ALWAYS wanted to be a veterinarian, but when I
got involved in rescue work, I just did not have the
time and energy for both. Eventually, I had to chose.
Since I could save lived now in the present, that is
the choice I made. I may not be a practicing State
Board licensed veterinarian, but I have enough
knowledge and experience to help assist the
veterinarians that I DO know and have been blessed
with veterinarians who are willing to work with me. I
want my daughter to pick up where I left off.
Thank you SO much for sharing!
Lora
--- catatonya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Congratulations from me as well!
My sister went through her first pregnancy at 41 a
little over a year ago. lol. They had 3 cats and 3
dogs at the time. (Well they still do!)
She had her husband clean the litters, but other
than that there have been no real issues. I hope it is
the same for you.
Her 'trouble boy' cat did scratch the baby bed as
soon as we got it put up! (But we hid it from her
husband.) lol.
They did decide to keep the baby's room closed off
from the cats at the beginning. If my sister or her
husband were in the nursery they allowed them in, but
at night they closed off the baby's room just to keep
the cats from getting cat hair all in the baby's bed
and unintentionally scratching him.
The cats and dogs mostly ignored the baby until he
was old enough to start crawling around a bit. He
just loves them all to death now and will chase
them. Everyone runs away from him except one dog who
is Tyler's buddy.
Overall it went much better than they feared. He's
had a few minor, accidental scratches, but nothing
bad. He has more accidents involving toys and sofas
and coffee tables etc. than he does with the animals.
One of the cats (the 'bad' boy, Ottis) will allow
Tyler to pet him until he gets too rough and will go
to him, etc. The other two cats ignored him completely
for the most part when he was by himself, but would
sit with him when he was being held by my sister, etc.
One of their neighbors talked about having a cat with
her baby that always slept with him, but with 13 cats
you probably don't want that!
Before Tyler was walking he was just enthralled with
the cats. Maybe because they didn't pay him much
attention. If one walked by he would just laugh and
get so excited, especially if one would let him
touch him or her. His favorite book is that "Jingle
Cats".
I think the worse thing is we are all worried that
Tyler thinks he is a dog! He started getting into
the food and water dishes as soon as he could scoot
around on the floor.
As an only child his best friend is a basset mix
(Barney) who he shares all his cookies and food with
and constantly plays with.
Barney is one of those dogs that lets Tyler sit on
him, pull his tail, anything for food. lol.
When Tyler learned to give kisses he mostly kissed
Barney (much to my mother's dismay!) My sister started
putting Tyler in a playpen when she gave him
zwieback cookies or other snacks so Barney wouldn't
get them, but Tyler would just push them through the
loops and give them to Barney!
Tyler frequently plays 'like a dog' and chases toys,
etc.. because that's how he plays with Barney. He
gives all his toys to Barney who promptly chews them
up.
When I talk to my sister on the phone all I can hear
is "Tyler, no, Barney, no! Get out of the kitchen
Tyler and Barney!"
Barney was a stray my sister and brother in law took
in. The other two dogs are jealous of Tyler, but
mostly ignore him.
I really think children brought up with pets are
happier children. My sister spends a lot of time
training Tyler not to pull tails, etc. and as he
gets older he's starting to understand it and the
rest of the animals are warming up to him more.
I'm determined for my nephew to be a vet, so we are
starting training early!
Good luck!
Tonya
--- catatonya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
One other thing Lora.
You should if at all possible get some help. My sister
couldn't keep up with everything for the baby's first
year. She lives out of state, so the family is not
close enough to help her like we would if she lived
here.
Taking care of a baby is a full time job and you
already have a full time job with that many animals.
If you can afford some help with cleaning or pet care
you should get it and not feel guilty about it!
t
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