Meow, Meow
So I have spent the last hour talking to a cat. We don't own a cat and nor will we ever own a cat. Being allergic to them, I have no interest and thankfully my husband has no interest in them either. This cat happens to love warm milk cooked on a plastic stove. Insists on me blowing on it to cool it off even though there is really none inside of the dish. The only means of communication is through pantomime and various meows. And the cat never breaks character for a second. The cat is able to keep this up for an hour and the only way that I can stop talking to the cat is when Julia (our nine month old) needs to have a bottle.
The cat is my daughter Riley who loves to act. She loves to dress up and perform hour long - or longer - performances as a variety of things. Some days it is being a unicorn and the only word I hear for hours on end is "Neigh." But not just any neighs! Some go up in pitch and some are held longer than others. Many are accompanied by head movements. She must be referred to as "Riley Cat" or "Unicorn Girl" or whatever the character is for that time. Other days she is Princess Annaliese and I am Erika and we sing our duet from the Barbie movie "The Princess and the Pauper." Only we must have capes (we use hooded towels) and we must be dressed up in princess outfits and we must perform entire scenes. It's definitely been great for her vocabulary!
Today just happened to be a cat day. So up to the playroom we went and I was the mean soldier who trapped the cat inside of a cave (this cave is very dark and happens to be the area underneath her slide). I trap her with a strong boulder (parents' round tube that Julia then climbs on top of) and declare that she will never escape. Soon enough she escapes - or Julia pulls the boulder out - and I chase the cat around the room. Then the cat goes back in and all of a sudden, I am the hero rescuing her from the mean soldier and feeding her warm milk in her cave. Riley loves the chance to "meow" for a long time. I love the chance to get a little creative and do my best not to get totally annoyed from the amount of "meows" I'm hearing as there's noone else in the house who communicates with words when Riley is a cat. Unless you count Julia's sounds of "mamamma or bababababa." I feel like an interpreter. "Meow??? Meow meow" means "Are you there? I need help." And "mamamam baba" means "Mama - I need my bottle now." Somedays I long for real conversation. But most days I'm satisfied to feed my cat and my little baby. And I'm sure they're satisfied with that too.
The cat is my daughter Riley who loves to act. She loves to dress up and perform hour long - or longer - performances as a variety of things. Some days it is being a unicorn and the only word I hear for hours on end is "Neigh." But not just any neighs! Some go up in pitch and some are held longer than others. Many are accompanied by head movements. She must be referred to as "Riley Cat" or "Unicorn Girl" or whatever the character is for that time. Other days she is Princess Annaliese and I am Erika and we sing our duet from the Barbie movie "The Princess and the Pauper." Only we must have capes (we use hooded towels) and we must be dressed up in princess outfits and we must perform entire scenes. It's definitely been great for her vocabulary!
Today just happened to be a cat day. So up to the playroom we went and I was the mean soldier who trapped the cat inside of a cave (this cave is very dark and happens to be the area underneath her slide). I trap her with a strong boulder (parents' round tube that Julia then climbs on top of) and declare that she will never escape. Soon enough she escapes - or Julia pulls the boulder out - and I chase the cat around the room. Then the cat goes back in and all of a sudden, I am the hero rescuing her from the mean soldier and feeding her warm milk in her cave. Riley loves the chance to "meow" for a long time. I love the chance to get a little creative and do my best not to get totally annoyed from the amount of "meows" I'm hearing as there's noone else in the house who communicates with words when Riley is a cat. Unless you count Julia's sounds of "mamamma or bababababa." I feel like an interpreter. "Meow??? Meow meow" means "Are you there? I need help." And "mamamam baba" means "Mama - I need my bottle now." Somedays I long for real conversation. But most days I'm satisfied to feed my cat and my little baby. And I'm sure they're satisfied with that too.
Comments
Post a Comment