Noah's best friend

I never had pets when I was growing up. My mom always said it was because we were all "allergic" A few years ago I finally got her to admit that she said it because she didn't want pets in the house. I always felt that my kids should be allowed to have pets.

My husband and I bought our first pet a year after we got married. It was a rabbit named Thumper. (Original, don't you think?) This rabbit was our "baby" We managed to litter train her and she had the run of the house. She thought she was a dog...followed us everywhere. She really was very spoiled.

4 years later along came Baby Noah. Shortly after, Thumper was given to a loving home.

We always said we would get a pet when our children were older. In October of 2006, My youngest turned 2. I went through a period of being sad that "my baby was growing up" At about the same time, Noah was starting to be somewhat aggressive to his little brother and other people's pets. So I asked my husband, "Should we get Noah a kitten for Christmas?" Steve was pretty adamant. "No, not yet." I thought the kitten would help with learning to be more gentle, but I figured Steve was probably right and we should wait until the boys were a little older.

A week or so later, I was hanging out waiting for Noah to finish preschool when a mom came in with a box full of kittens. I, who had always wanted a kitten to snuggle, picked up one and Noah's teacher came out and said, "Why don't you bring it in to show the class?" Noah, who has never really been big into animals, saw Mommy walk in the class with the kitten and said in a matter of half a second, "Oh, Mommy, can we call her Minnie?" How do I say no? A kid who had never shown any interest in anything living had not only fallen in love with it at first sight, but had also already named it.

A half hour later, Minnie was in our van, crying, on the way to the store to buy all the things a kitten needs. The call to my husband (who was home stranded on the couch with a shattered ankle at the time) was pretty interesting. "We're coming home and we've got a cat"

So, Minnie became part of our life. (I have never once sneezed by the way) Actually, I should say, Minnie became part of Noah's and Daddy's life. They became her people of choice, choosing to attack pretty much anyone else. It's almost as if she knew that Noah was the reason she came to our home.

The babysitters and grandmas are her favorite prey.


Minnie follows Noah and Daddy everywhere and needs to always be around them, or ON them, as in the case of Daddy.












I do believe that Noah has become MUCH more kind toward other creatures as the result of Minnie joining our life.











As you can tell, Daddy really didn't want a cat LOL














I think Aaron may be a dog person, so we'll see what happens as the boys grow older. However for now, even Aaron is a fun buddy for Minnie to visit at night.











Noah is not limited to just Minnie anymore. At a fall trip to the apple orchard, one of the attractions was a "kitten house" I think I saw Noah's head spinning he was so exited. He couldn't get enough, including holding as many as he could at a time and trying to take them with us in the wagon to go get pumpkins.




















I am glad my boys are learning how to treat all of God's creatures with respect. My brother and sister have also had pets in our adult lives. I believe they add another dimension of unconditional love to our lives.

Have a great week.