Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Tuesday, September 23, 2014: Mixed Signals

Tommy woke me up during the night and jumped up by my head so we could “talk.” She probably felt that with all the time I’d been gone over the weekend that she hadn’t gotten enough attention (or maybe some noise frightened her). Either way, we spent some time talking or I petted her until she curled up next to me head. She’s been starting to spend part of the night up by my head and it’s one of those special times that I don’t mind giving up some sleep to get some attention from her. See, it works both ways, I give her attention and she gives me some attention, too.
I again spent time working on paperwork whenever Tommy would take a nap. When she was awake I knew that we would be spending time playing. I brought out her grass for her morning snack and she ate some of it, but then walked away after her little snack.  She seemed to be regulating her intake which is good since I know that she can overeat grass.
Everything went well until I had to practice my songs for choir on the keyboard. Tommy definitely doesn’t like my singing. Sometimes she’ll come in and yell at me, but today she went and took a nap under the bed, which is probably as far away as she can get in the condo.
Later while she was napping, I tried to quietly go to the fitness center to read my architecture textbook and listen to the songs for choir. As I headed to the door to leave, Tommy let out a yell to let me know that I was caught in the act. I went over and petted her and told her that I’d be back soon and would give a treat when I returned. She seemed to accept that and stayed on her chair in the sun when I left.
When I returned I was greeted at the door. She was probably reminding me that I owed her a treat. It was given and she ate most of the little pieces.  We then had our afternoon play session before Tommy sacked out on the floor by a sunny window. I took that as my cue to go and get caught up on the blogs.
After dinner I needed to leave for choir rehearsal. I wasn’t sure how Tommy would take it. As I was getting ready, she must have realized that I would be leaving and moved into the bedroom. I thought that this was going way too easily, and I was right.
When I was ready I couldn’t find Tommy. I finally located her under the bed. I put out one of her treats to try to coax her out so I could say a proper good-bye, but she wasn’t budging. I gave her the treat and then waited for her to finish. When I went to pet her, she snapped at me. It seems that she wasn’t happy with my leaving, but had just begrudgingly accepted the fact. I left her the rest of the treats and went off to choir.
When I returned, we played for a short time, but Tommy just didn’t seem to want to continue. I did bring home a new little toy and she seemed to enjoy that novelty for a while although I think she liked it better when she played with it by herself. Since she was in a mood I didn’t even want to think about bedtime.
When it was time, I said good night, told Tommy to come in when she was ready and went to bed leaving the door open. Later when I was ready to turn off the television and lights there was still no sign of Tommy in the bedroom. I figured that I was supposed to go and get her as usual.
When I found Tommy in the living room she started running away from me.  This wasn’t going to be easy, so I prepared myself to spend some time calming her down and getting her to go into the bedroom.  When she went near the windows I sat down and said that I wasn’t going to chase her because I was too tired.  Amazingly, I watched as Tommy walked into the bedroom.
When I got there I found her under the bed (again). I gave her a treat and told her that the rest was on the bed as always. I then went to bed and turned off the lights. When that was done, Tommy jumped up on the bed and ate her treats. Sometimes she scares me with the possibility that she might understand what I’m saying.  After finishing her treat she then spent some time jumping up on one side of the bed, over me and jumping down the other side.  I went to sleep hoping that she’d settle down and sleep in her usual spot again.

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