Maow Update

Fantastic news! We got the results of Maow's blood work - her kidneys are fine!
And at home she's pretty close to being back to her old self. Scratching things she shouldn't, trying to steal food from the table, even running a bit with Bruce. And her coat is starting to look healthy and shiny again. I couldn't be happier! My baby. For all the people who told us we should have let her die instead of paying for surgery, may they live a long, unhappy, animal-less life. OK, maybe that's extreme. But my little girl, she's OK! And life is good again.

School Blues, Snow Blues

Ah, the Board of Ed. Yesterday came the first real snowfall of the winter, and I called to see if school was open. They said it was. When the bus wasn’t coming, Joe took Theo to school himself, and it was closed. So they went home and stayed there. Today, school was open but the bus was 40 minutes late. I just hope that means the bus driver was driving very, very slowly.

Theo is wearing his snow boots today. He isn’t thrilled about it. If only he knew how cute he looks in them!

Yesterday Theo had to miss his Valentine’s Day dance and pizza party, but hopefully they’ll do it today instead. On Monday, Theo made a cute heart out of red tissue paper. I love all his little school projects!

At the Mall With Grandma

Guest Blogger: Grandma Carol


I was so thrilled to see my beautiful grandson on Saturday. Before I saw him, I called to check in with mommy and he picked up the phone and said, "Hello?" I said "Hi, honey," and heard his little voice say "It's Graaaandma." Later, at the mall, when mommy was trying on dresses, I had the pleasure of entertaining the little guy. Luckily, I had a whole bunch of stuff in my bag, including a small red heart-shaped slinky, paper, pencils and even a yummy bar of chocolate. Theo demanded that I draw a "presents tree," the body of the cat (of whom I had only drawn the head), and attempted to copy my "artwork." Out of nowhere he started to trace his hand, and then mine. It wasn't perfect, but it was still cute. I was practicing having him say, "I'm cute!!" And he was!

The Gray Hat

Aunt Donny knits tons of beautiful hats. They're all over the country, as her proud sister gives them as gifts to just about everyone. The clerk at the supermarket has one. The banker has one. You get the picture.

Theo has a green army coat with a matching green army hat. But he won't wear the green hat. He will wear only Aunt Donny's gray hat. It has a green stripe on it, so it still matches the coat. (Yeah, Elyse, like Theo really cares.)

Yesterday, Clay was over. It was freezing and he had no hat, so I tried to send him home with another of Aunt Donny's gray hats. This one was plain with no stripe. Clay put it on, and Theo got mad.

"No! No Cay! Theo hat! Theo haaat!"

Explaining that it was a different hat was futile. Clay returned the hat. Theo put it on and wore it to sleep.

Mr. Independent

One milestone for young children is the entrance into the independence phase. Let me do it! I can do it! I wanna do it!

Even though Theo doen't say those things exactly, I'm so happy he has entered the phase. And relieved. Just cuz it's a natural progression.

I try to help him get dressed. "Noooo mommy mine mine!" or "No, Theo socks!"
I try to pour him a drink "no, mine. no, mine."

He's getting good at things like twisting off caps and pouring and dressing/undressing. I'm sure a lot of it comes from his Occupational Therapy. But he's also just coming of age. Sniff sniff.

The Bruce King

Like the dad in Bambi and the Lion King, Bruce has been standing on the highest things he can to guard his sister. He stands tall and puffs out his chest, and looks just like a king.

When Maow is resting on the couch, Bruce looks down from the top of the TV stand. When she's on the bed, he's on top of the dresser (which is pretty high).

He's getting to be an amazing leaper. He's this incredible manly specimen with a soft, mushy heart. What a great cat.

Maow is Home

Cross your paws for a speedy recovery. She is having issues with her kidneys and had a seizure on Friday, but hasn't had one since. She has reunited with her brother, who is taking good care of her and licking her whenever she cries and tending to her as if he were her mother.

Her appetite is slowly increasing and she's looking better. She keeps down everything she eats and seems to be eliminating normally. Even the doctor is optimistic. If we can just get her healed... It's scary, though. She's still so small and skinny and frail, and sometimes she looks so weak. But day by day she's looking and getting stronger. I'm dreading next week's blood test, when we see how her kidneys are doing. None of us can take any more bad news.

But she's happy, home, and purring. I have that to hold on to right now. Amazing how much you can love an animal you've had less than a year.