You've got a kitty

Lil s has basically gotten to the state where she is a kitty. She scurries, (okay, she short of laboriously drags herself army crawl style with the sort of effort that almost wears you out to watch, but she's still getting much faster at moving) along the floor looking for interesting things to gnaw on or bat at. Whenever I put on my shoes she takes a moment to consider her next action and then proceeds to scoot across the floor to inspect them, generally concluding by batting at my laces for a while. Just this morning she spent a good amount of time patting the step in front of her and looking over at us to make sure we were proud of her. "Yup, that's a step honey."

Unfortunately, unlike a kitty we can't just dispense her food in a bowl and assume she'll get around to eating it. That said she's doing a better job of gobbling up her food baby bird style, and her reduction in chins from five to three has made the job of cleaning them easier as well. Of course, cats also do the job of cleaning themselves, and if s is past her bedtime and it turns out to be bath time instead of dunking her head in the water and playing with a toy duckie she cries.

Similarities

1) Batting at random objects.

2) Crawling/moving towards things that appear interesting that generally turn out to be not intended for gnawing/batting.

3) Vocalizations-Who knows what kittens or lil babies are saying. (Okay, occasionally when s is left in her crib for a half hour or so while daddy just tries to get some peace and quiet she might get out a mama during her crying. However, I'd like to note that she says mama when she's crying not because she's calling for her but because she knows to blame her in some way).

4) Early morning wake up call. Kitties, like babies, are very adept at waking you at six in the morning. Either way, it's supremely annoying. At least the baby can give you a faux hug afterward while secretly trying to grab your glasses and eat them.

Dissimilarities

1) Unlike a kitty, s will not grow up to place bird or small mammal carcasses on our front porch. Or, if she does, then we've probably made some sort of mistake in raising her.

2) s wears clothes and kittens don't wear clothes unless people have made some sort of mistake in raising them.

3) s will eventually learn to clean herself better than the cat and not cover her feces with leaves and sticks.

4) The whole nocturnal thing. Babies go to bed at seven while cats gear up to kill birds.


Anyhow, that's the gist of it. When your kid hits seven months it's kind of like having a high maintenance kitty. Only, in the case of the child you're going to have to worry about school districts, move houses for them, worry about their peer groups, worry whether they're achieving, worry about their self-esteem etc. etc. I guess I'm saying you should probably just get the cat instead. Kidding s.