Andy is away for a week and so I decided to actively tackle our kitties behaviour of making a racket in order to wake us at 3-4am every morning for food and play time!
Night 1 was really bad and I realised that Andy is obviously getting up very quickly and tending to them before I hear and so I have been largely unaware of how bad it actually is. Eeeek sorry my love!
Anyhow I stood fast and shouted in a stern voice to stop it after about 20 minutes of them bashing on the blinds. Strangely enough they did stop! I must say that even as a very young child I would never dare wake my mom unless it was for something really urgent as I just knew not to do that. I would play quietly in my room if I woke early and never disturb my mom. My mom made it clear as day that that was not acceptable and I just never pushed that boundary. My mom was attentive all day making us lunch, doing homework, playing and coming up with fun activities, knitting us jerseys, sewing us track suits, taking us to fun places etc etc etc and so I think when it came to her morning sleep she had no guilt in setting the rules and there was no grey area with that :)
Now perhaps I give off the same vibe to our kitties as on night 2 they tried to bash the blinds only once and I shouted and they stopped and by last night being the third night they did not make a peep and were still sound asleep when the Gardener phoned me at 8am to say he was waiting outside.
My word!
I told Dad (Andy) about this break through on the phone today and we are both hoping it lasts a very long time!!!!
Kitties are so sharp though and they will quickly pick up who they can do what with. In our home they have clearly been pushing their luck with waking dad at crazy hours and then they wrap me around their silky little paws during the day to get maximum bowls of wet food whereas dad puts his foot down with that and sticks to only the necessary feeds.
Whoever says that Andy and I are not parents should spend a night or two in our home and see just how like parents we are :)
Last night after visiting my mom I erected a cardboard play house for the kitties which I bought at Hobby Ex and I tell you they had a blast. Perhaps that is also why they slept through as they had tired themselves out playing.
So terribly precious they are!
5 comments:
It's a very good idea to teach them that they can't make too much racket while you're sleeping. It always amazes me just how much noise such little creatures can make!
You are a parent. And, that play box sounds neat. When my Riley, who is the trouble maker, starts to cause trouble, I do the Mom thing. Pick him up, look him in the face and I growl at him. Sometimes I hiss ... depending on if he really chases his sister. It's working ... now, I just look at him and he looks back at me and I tell him ... don't do it. They are smart fur balls.
Perhaps you'd like my Nicki, to train. Oh, well, better have all three, because they all wake me at various times, for various reasons. :-)
Thanks for checking out my Fuzzy Tales site!
That's a pretty impressive behavioral breakthrough! Paws crossed that your kitties' newfound respect for you and Andy's sleep requirements will last a long, long time! :)
Thats fantastic. And you and Andy complement each other so well with your different parenting techniques. I treat my animals just like children, chastising or loving them and talking to them all the time. It also goes to show how clever (and manipulative) our furkids can be. I am sure they will start up their early waking when they see Andy is home.
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