Reconnecting with family
One of the many questions we get these days, besides “is he sleeping through the night yet?”, is “how are the animals reacting to the new baby?” We have two dogs and three cats so there are lots of animals to have opinions about this latest “pack member” but a few of them have surprised us.
Sarah the elder stateshound has little to no interest in the baby. If it’s possible for a dog to get senile, though, she’s done it and doesn’t have interest in much beyond her fan, the water bowl and rubbing her face on the leather furniture.
Mollie the dobermutt did a fair amount of worrying and pacing when we first brought Ian home (as did Rich) but has since mellowed into licking the baby’s head and bemoaning her being outcast to the guest bed from our bed.
The kitties have surprised us the most. Tobias the busiest cat ever has shown more interest in our baby paraphernalia than the actual baby, attempting to sleep in the cribs, on the changing tables and snuggled inside the Boppy nursing pillow.
Emily the skittish cat we assumed would spend the first month under the guest bed since she hides from any visitors or house guests we have. But she’s our only pet that has had offspring so I think she understands that Ian is our kitten. She sits with me when I nurse him and sleeps in the bed with all of us every night. She hasn’t shown any aggression towards the baby and has been amazingly brave. We’ll see how that bravery lasts when Ian is mobile.
The only pet that seems to be having a hard time is Isis (AKA Ms. Kitty). She has always been my cat and doesn’t have much use for anyone else petting her or otherwise interacting with her. Her favorite thing in the world is for me to pick her up and carry her around the house. She’s content to sit in my arms for close to an hour if I’ll let her and she just snuggles and purrs the whole time. But these days I’ve been carrying around another kitty all the time and the betrayal and frustration shows on her little kitty face. It’s pitiful to watch her follow us around the house meowing plaintively.
She can at least sit on the arm of the recliner while Ian and I are nursing but you can tell she doesn’t think it’s the same as being held herself. So this afternoon while Ian was napping, I sought her out, picked her up and we had a good hour of snuggle time. It was a nice reunion for us both and I’m going to try to make a habit of it. As wonderful as it has been to bond with Ian these last few weeks it’s also good to see he’s not the only one who needs me.
I think the fur part of our families take their cues from us. They know when someone "belongs" and when they don't, but there is still a measure of bewilderment when someone new arrives in their life. Isis as always been your baby; so it's understandable that she missed being held and cuddled. I know that Honey can be the same way.
I'm really glad that everyone in the family is adjusting to well to having another family member.
I truly can't fathom how Nicolas would handle it if we had a kid. He wouldn't pee, but he'd be a dick about it, I'm sure!
Totally unrelated to the main theme of your post, but I detest the "is he sleeping through the night?" question! People ask it long before a baby should be sleeping through the night (although there are always a few weird kids, like me, who do it really early). Some kids just don't, for a long time. Like Edward, who would sleep 23 out of 24 hours, but always wake up for a middle of the night feeding.
Anyway… That's my soapbox…
Genie Reply:
November 30th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
I hate that question too! He will sleep through the night some day before he leaves this house and the more important thing is we're all getting enough good sleep, even if there are a few nursing breaks in the middle.
Genie Reply:
November 30th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
I hate that question too! He will sleep through the night some day before he leaves this house and the more important thing is we're all getting enough good sleep, even if there are a few nursing breaks in the middle.