Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Monday, September 29, 2014:A Great Day With a Few Surprises

Tommy again woke me up at 4:30, but this time, not only did she want attention, she wanted to settle in for a nap.  After she had completed her rubbing against me and I finished my petting while lying on my side, she licked my hand and curled up against my chest. I was one of those moments that remind me how glad I am to have her in my life.
Of course, she didn’t want to stay at my side for long and decided to use me as a hurdle as she jumped across the bed to release some energy. She then settled down under the bed to await the time when I would finally get up and take care of her needs.
At 7:00 I got up and completed my morning duties before heading into the shower to get ready to leave for class. As I finished getting dressed I put on my tennis shoes in the living room. Tommy had been watching my comings and goings throughout the condo and knew what was happening. As I finished tying my shoes, she headed into the bedroom. When I followed her into the bedroom, I saw that she was sitting on the bed waiting for her morning/good bye treat.  I gave them to her and left for class.
When I returned at noon we spent some time catching up on petting and play activities. Later I was hungry so I got out a bag of BBQ flavored turkey jerky. As I ate it while sitting on a chair in the living room, Tommy jumped up on my lap to investigate. She hadn’t jumped up on my lap for some time, so I was surprised.  When she realized that I wasn’t going to share the jerky, she jumped down.  She does have her standards and there’d better be something in it for her to sit on my lap.
Later in the afternoon I saw her intently investigating the balcony screen and door.  She kept moving around, so I went over to check on her. She had found a small house fly and was determined to capture it.  Not knowing whether she would kill and/or eat it, I decided to set it free and opened the screen just a crack. The fly was able to escape, but Tommy wasn’t happy to have lost her new little toy.
Tommy spent some time on her rug and we played with the fleece teaser. There are times when it gets caught on one of her toys, but it doesn’t bother me.  Tommy seemed to have a different opinion.  While I watched, she suddenly starting flinging all her toys off the rug. She didn’t stop until the rug was clear except for a heavier spring toy.
I thought I’d help her. I went over and moved the toy off the rug.  It seemed that Tommy didn’t want it moved. She went and sat behind it and stared at me.  I got the message and moved it back to its original position.  She then moved back on the rug and pulled at the fleece. It appeared that she was ready to play, so that’s what we did.
Tommy’s very good about telling me when she does and doesn’t want to play. If she wants to play, she’ll sit by the fleece teaser or will pull on it.  When she needs to take a break, she’ll either stop the fleece with her paw as it goes by her and then will let it go.  If I don’t catch on to her wishes, she’ll just get up and go get a drink, eat or go to the litter box. I’m sure that she wonders why I can’t figure out how long play time should be.  Of course, it does vary. Sometimes she’ll play for 30-45 minutes and other times 10-15 minutes is all she wants.
After our last play session of the day, we were both laying on the floor and I was watching the news. We both fell asleep, but I woke up about an hour later.  I turned off the TV and the lights and waited for Tommy to go into the bedroom. I guess that she was too tired and just mewed to me.  I picked her up and she snuggled against my neck as we went into the bedroom.
When we got there she mustered enough strength to jump onto the bed from my arms.  I thought that she’d immediately jump down and go under the bed, but I was wrong. She sat there and waited for her treat which I gave to her.
As she ate the treat, I got into bed again expecting her to jump down and go under the bed. She fooled me again. She moved to her old spot for sleeping near my feet, curled up, and closed her eyes. I don’t know why she suddenly decided to sleep on the bed again, but I was so happy to have her feel comfortable enough and trust me enough to want to be close to ne during the night.  Once again as I drifted off to sleep, I was so glad to have my little princess in my life.

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