Our Permanent Residents

Before there were kids, before there was even a house, we had cats. There are plenty of stories to tell (when it's not so late and we're not so preoccupied around here with creatures that need tending-to every two hours), but for now suffice it to say that while we live in our house (and pay for it, and clean it, etc) it really belongs to the cats. Until a little over a year ago, in fact, the cats spent a lot more time in the house than we did. Now they spend just a little more time here than us, but still they are the permanent residents while we are visitors.

So whenever a flat surface is brought into the house, at least one of the cats is assigned to try it out as a potential nap spot. Edward, the senior resident, was first to try out the new Pack-N-Play. He must have given it a satisfactory review because now we're constantly chasing indignant cats out of there whenever the twinlets are napping elsewhere.

While Edward is our senior reviewer, it's Ivan who tests our limits most often. Today, while Shepard was having his lunch (or second or third lunch or whatever you call it when someone eats every two hours), it occurred to Ivan that although Kennedy was using half of the Pack-N-Play, the other half of that prime nap real estate was going to waste. So he hopped in -- you know, just to see if that would be okay.

It wasn't okay with me, but I thought it deserved a picture. So I set off running around the house to find where the camera had been hidden this time (answer: Grace's room). By the time I gave up and just used the crappy camera on my phone Ivan was getting ready to move on.

Clearly he found the arrangement satisfactory because we had to chase him out of the other Pack-N-Play (yes we have two - why?) with Shepard tonight. While I don't subscribe to the "old wives tale" that cats will suck the breath from babies, I do figure that if it's dangerous for a baby to sleep with a pillow or stuffed animal it must be downright perilous for them to sleep with an aggressively friendly 15lb cat.

Sorry Ivan. Pack-N-Plays (both of them) are for kids.