Where have the kittens been all my life? Oh my gosh, I love them. They are funny and ninja and like, crazy smart. We love watching their antics, they are entertaining as heck. And they actually cuddle. Well one of them is a cuddling fool, while the other would rather be going crazy, but she’ll let the kids hold her for short bursts. I can see crazy cat lady in my future …
I am not the crazy cat lady … yet. I’m the crazy kid lady. I wear that label with pride. But in the past two weeks of kitten ownership I’ve learned a lot about these feline friends. Mostly, is that I have no idea what my opposition to them was. Or why anyone would have advised us … us, the 12 kid having one dog having, traveling family … to not get a kitten, or in our case, two.
I mean, really, compared to kids and dogs kittens are a piece of cake. Like the easiest thing I’ve ever done in my life, aside from sleeping.
Dan and I have had dogs all our life, I even owned the world’s worst dog, think Marlee of Marlee and Me times 1000. My Marlee on steroids, Casey, was a golden retriever. He got kicked out of puppy training school not once, not twice, but three times. His fate was sealed. He was the most beloved bad dog in the world.
I promise you, neither cats nor dogs compare or prepare you for parenthood. In the past two weeks since we adopted our kittens, Mia and Nala, I have come full circle in the world of cats. Where I really couldn’t stand the creatures, I know can see myself becoming the crazy cat lady.
Here’s why …
Table of Contents
LitterBox
Unlike dogs and so unlike children, kittens are virtually born knowing how to use the litter box. You fill up a box with Kitty Litter, put the box in an accessible place (away from their food) and viola insta-potty. Then, everyday, you filter the litter … for obvious reasons. No smell, no going out in the rain, sleet, snow or in the middle of a game to walk the dog and no messy, accident-prone potty learning! So so easy.
Quiet
Kittens are quiet as heck. The most noise I’ve heard from these two is when they are both purring and that sound is a lull you to sleep, calm, peaceful, beautiful sound. Barking dogs? Not so much.. Screaming, howling, rambunctious kids? Nuh-uh. I’ve been parenting for 21 years and never referred to any child noise as “lull you to sleep”, in fact, to be clear, I’ve never fallen asleep with any child awake … because they are loud. No comparison.
Home Alone
You can just decide to leave and walk out the door at any moment of any day. They don’t care and they can fend for themselves. Children must go with you everywhere. For me, that’s a whole boat load of faces to wash, clean clothes to find, and let’s not even talk about the number of shoes needed to simply walk out the door. And that’s another thing … kittens don’t wear shoes!
Destruction
I mentioned the amount of destruction our kids practice on a daily basis in this blog here. Dogs too. We’ve lost more cabinets, chairs, underwear, socks and shoes to dogs than I care to even remember. These kittens don’t mess with any of our stuff either, unlike our kids and our dogs!
Meals
Kittens (and dogs) eat the same thing everyday and they only drink water. You can leave it out all day too. Kids need variety and well balanced meals…more than just a main course and they need it at least three times per day. Cooking and planning and so much, work (love) goes into nourishing our kids. Kittens, you buy canned or bagged food … done and done. And kittens don’t make dishes. One bowl, water and food. Wash it every other day … done. Kids make lots of dishes and they use 100,000 cups per day.
Love
This is where the cats fall behind big time. It’s why there are only 5 reasons and then this 6th one is owned by the kids. This is where kids win out, no contest The hard work, the worrry, the devotion, the pure, unadulterated, unconditional love we have for our kids is comparable to none. None of the hard stuff matters, we do it out of love, with a smile and an eager heart!