Tuesday, July 8, 2014

   It was a rather fitful night; we’re both up almost every hour thanks to the air conditioning, thunderstorm, and my upstairs neighbor who exercises at 5:00 AM on the wood floor above my bed.  I was just starting to sleep through it, but Tommy wasn’t, so we both were awake.

   One surprise was that when we fell back to sleep, Tommy let me sleep until almost 7:00 AM and after her morning “greeting” she fell asleep using my arm as a pillow.  She stayed in that cuddle position for over an hour.  It was one of my favorite moments with her so far.

   Once we were awake we begin our routine.  We went to the kitchen to make coffee and replenish her supplies.  Then it was off to the study to print puzzles, check e-mail, and update Facebook.  Then it was back to the living room to do the puzzles with Tommy at my side.

   We moved back to the study again to begin updating my blogs.  She’s really doing well in that room.  She’s either exploring the safe zones (no plants!) or sitting quietly on a chair or on the floor.  When we had back to the bedroom, a new milestones reached.  I am able to make the bed before Tommy decides to jump on the bed to help.  The rest of the morning is spent in the living room reading, writing, and playing.

   I’m trying to get Tommy to play more so she learns to amuse herself when I’m not around.  Today she would only play with the feather boa on the wand for about 2 minutes, but we played with a string for about 10 minutes.  I tried putting one of the little mouse toys into the loops of string but all she did was take out the mouse and continue playing with a string.  Much later in the day she we discover the mouse and played for few minutes with it.  This was definitely an accomplishment.

   Later in the day we moved back to the study and Tommy is now comfortable enough to sit on the desk.  She usually doesn’t get in the way but just wants the attention which of course she gets.  Speaking of attention, I had to leave today for about 45 minutes to walk to Cathedral Square to register for Storm the Bastille.  When I returned I received quite a scolding.  I wasn’t sure enough we’d moved back to square one as she started following me everywhere.  Within a few hours she was back to letting me move freely around the condo.  I wonder what tomorrow will bring when I had visitors and have to leave several times during the day and evening.

   One final note: I miss being able to go out on the balcony, and don’t like leaving Tommy by the screen looking out at me.  I’m not comfortable just taking her out onto an 11^th floor balcony.  I’m thinking of buying a harness to let her enjoy the balcony while keeping her safe.  Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.