On Pets.

I love Wess's cats. They are funny, endearing, and interesting. I definitely prefer cats over dogs. And, in theory, I fully support the idea of having a pet as part of the household. The cats provide the opportunity to teach Tristin all kinds of things - particularly the importance of being gentle while touching. It reduces the likelihood of his developing irrational fears towards other animals, and lays a groundwork for learning about empathy (yes, the cat ran away when you pulled his ears; how would you like it if I pulled your ears?). In theory, pets are wonderful.

In practice, they are... honestly, still wonderful. 99% of the time. The 1% of the time they are not wonderful is when Tristin has woken in the middle of the night to nurse, is mere moments away from drifting back to sleep, and Jupiter jumps up on the bed with a "Prrrrow?" (Anybody who lives with a cat is very familiar with this sound. If you don't, well, I'm sorry for you. On many levels.) This sound is usually endearing; upon hearing it, those who have cats in their home will usually scoop up the inquisitive feline for a nice cuddle, myself included - unless it just so happens to coincide with one of Tristin's wakeful moments. Because when that happens, Tristin suddenly realizes 3 things:

1) I'm in Mum's bed!
2) I've slept just enough that, while I'm still tired and should sleep for a few more hours, if I wake up now I'll have enough energy to play for an hour or two!
3) KITTY!!!!!

(Some would argue that the solution is to close the bedroom door. They clearly don't live with cats. Cats do not see a closed door as an insurmountable obstacle; rather, it is a combination scratching-post and audience for feline opera.)

So, when this happens - about one night every two or three weeks, I do the most sensible thing:

I let Tristin do WHATEVER HE WANTS to Jupiter.

Silly cat deserves everything he gets.