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Well, FF and I both came down on Friday with some kind of ill voodoo, we don’t know exactly what but we both had runny noses, headaches, body aches and extreme fatigue.  Overall we are both better today but still tired.

However, we did not get much done this weekend either in terms of organizing the house (us), going to Lowe’s to plot mass weed genocide (FF), or homework (me).   Blah.

K has crested some new developmental stages, which is both good and bad.  First the good, ’cuz focusing on the rest is enough to make me want to cry or run away screaming, take your pick.   Anyway, the sleep strike seems to be over (for now).   By virtue of a combination of her anxiety level reducing, or just her tendency to make sudden decisions for behavioral change, she started sleeping better about a week ago (thank god).  We had also been talking to her for a couple weeks about a sticker chart, but I have learned from past experience that it would be peeing in the wind unless she had buy-in.  So she finally decided that it sounded pretty cool, and she helped design a nice chart for the month of October on the computer and we dug out some star stickers from a box.  Overall I think she decided to go with it because she wants to become a “sleeping rockstar”.  Now that may sound pretty funny to the uninitiated, but I am not kidding when I say that I believe the phrase “potty rockstar” was pretty much the only motivating reason for her to spontaneously potty train many months ago.  So never doubt the power of words.  So far we are about 4 nights in to the chart, and she has slept 2/4 nights without waking and the other 2 nights she slept most of the night.  Also fortunately, she has decided to be willing to go to sleep on her own (IE after the normal bedtime routine and a few minutes of handholding.)  Hallelujah, we never thought we’d see the day…but of course I am naturally cautious with my optimism because we’ve had many promising improvements over the last three years only to come crashing back down based on her whims.  We shall see.  I try to only project confidence and excitement.  Until my damn face cracks.

And for the bad…holy mother of god, I guess she decided to start on those unpleasantries of 4 a little early.  She has been making bids for increased independence lately…so ok, no problem, we can work with that, but along with it has come an extreme increase in outright oppositional defiance, crankiness, and general perversity.  If we say RED, she says BLUE.  Her two favorite phrases the last couple weeks are “NO!” and “Fine, then I’m not going to talk to you ANYMORE!”.  She is pushing the boundaries of rules, and the “time-out programme” is rapidly becoming useless. 

Another just peachy development is a bit of an issue with pee accidents.  Now, honestly, I attribute the start of this to her general stress and anxiety around losing Mynx and starting back to school and she was having a periodic accident here and there.  No biggie, right?  But it seems to lately be on occasion, a very purposeful oppositional attempt to make waves.  In one case, she was on a time-out and then said she needed to go to the bathroom and we told her to go ahead, so she marched in there and then peed in her pants while standing in the bathroom.  I am 95% certain it had nothing to do with her bladder control.  WTF people?  Where was this in the parenting manual?

And lastly (or at least the last of what I’ve not been able to black out of my mind yet) is a certain experimentation with behaviors like lying, sneaking, and manipulative negotiations.  Oh where did my baby go, like overnight?  She hid under FF’s desk today with a conveniently discovered bottle of fingernail polish, and fixed up her nails real ‘purty.  She snuck into the laundry room and poured all the cat food onto the floor and mixed it up with water in an attempt to make a “cat restaurant”.  She told me when I got home that she made a “BIG mess, on purpose!”.   Umm, gee, thanks for the honest disclosure, honey.

I mean, are we total failures or is this just the normal curvature of the road?  What gives?  Oh well, we live to fight another day.  There is no time so blessed in this house as the brief respite while she is peacefully asleep in her bed.

And so…the next topic….during our sick haze, we did in fact realize that we would have to make a pilgrimage out of the house this weekend, to buy milk (for the kid) and cat food (for the cat kid).  We rallied and went on over to PetSmart, and guess what?  Came home with cat food….and another cat!

Yeah, I know, people, feel free to make fun of me here, but while K was perusing all the animals, she wandered over to the in-store adoption clinic, with one of the local humane societies.  They had like a big “cat hut” with about 8 or 10 different cats, all of them small kittens except 2.  I had absolutely no pre-ordained intent to get another pet but what happened was this beautiful gray tabby looked at me and I had one of those kismet moments…I just knew we had to take her home.  I glanced at her adoption card, only to find that they were trying to get rid of her as fast as possible because she was an “older cat” (AKA a whopping 18 months) and no one would look at her compared to all the cute fuzzball kittens.  They had marked her adoption fee down with a red pen to around $30 like she was damaged goods or something.  It made me righteously upset (sad), to see that such a sweet, socialized, healthy cat could be so overlooked and unwanted simply for being full grown.  So I asked FF if he could possibly tolerate the idea of getting a companion for Cookie (who is absolutely neurotic and lonely whenever we leave are out).  I went in to pet and hold the gray tabby, and she absolutely mauled me for affection.  I know it’s my human psychology at work but I swear people, she was begging me to get her out of that cat jail where no one cared about her. 

Her name is Juno and she is an incredibly sweet cat.  She cannot seem to really believe that we love her and belong to her, she has a surprised look on her face everytime she comes up on the couch or bed and people actually PET her.  She is very calm, not shy with K’s noise at all, and so sweet.  She has thoroughly bonded with FF in a short 2 days and follows him around everywhere.  She cries whenever he locks her out of the bathroom for a short few minutes.  

Juno and Cookie are currently working out a relationship.  The Cookie Monster is such an adrenaline junkie that she wants to PLAY! PLAY! PLAY! all the time, and Juno is still getting used to the family life.   Yet we have not had any cat wars or serious fighting, just some strategic hissing and she has bopped Cookie on the nose a couple times when she was being excessively petulant.  They are getting more friendly all the time, and have had no problems sharing the food and litter pan.  So I believe and hope they will be great companions for each other once they work out the details of their relationship.  In her only bid for territoriality, Cookie has decided to sleep with us at night, under the sheets, curled up by my feet.  I’m not sure how she breathes packed in there but whatever floats her boat.  A bonus is that K has not noticed her sleeping under the covers so we have avoided some of the “Clash of the Titan” episodes.

Thanks to my honey for being the most tolerant, patient, loving hubby ever to let me bring home Juno on a moment’s notice. So, here she is in her pictoral debut and yes, that is IT for pets for us, I swear.  I sure do miss my Mynxie though.

Pretty Juno