Tonya, It has been awhile. Good to hear from you!
I SO appreciated your emails! They made me laugh and laugh! The story you shared about your sister and baby Tyler is EXACTLY the same picture I see when I visualize my little girl growing up in our home! It is so amazing that you mention Tyler's and Barney's antics, because my younger sister had her first child back on February 25, 2003 (a little boy they named Jacob) and he absolutely LOVE animals! Every time they came over he would sit and squill at my kitties with a huge goofy grin on his face. When he turned two (2) and was walking, he would try and chase the kitties, tripping all the way! LOL. But he never cared. He is truly a happy child. My kids (kitties) on the other hand did not care for Jacob at all. There was NEVER any fussing, fighting or territorial aggression physically displayed with my kids towards baby Jacob. As you (and several others) have mentioned, my kids would either sit out of child's reach and just stare at him or avoided Jacob completely. It was obvious that baby Jacob was more tickled with them than they were about him! LOL. The idea that Tyler thinks he is a dog just cracked me up! I can SO relate! With so many "animals" in our home I can see where my little girl can become confused with her identity! LOL. All of her newborn clothes (so far) are done in pink kitties! My husband teases me that I may get away with dressing her up in "kitty" themed clothes for the first couple of years, but eventually she will want to dress herself and he is laying bets that she will choose to NOT be dressed as a cat! LOL. Her nursery is in all kitties too. Not the typical "Hello Kitty" or Disney Marie" kitties either. They are overrated. Instead I had to literally piece together her accessories throughout my entire pregnancy as pink "bunnies" "lambs" and "bears" tend to be the standard norm. Unfortunately, not a lot of companies make "kitty" anything for babies and when they do it is basically for a "test run" to see if the item sell well. Therefore, not a lot duplicates of that particular item are manufactured. It is difficult, but fun. So anyway, I can see the possibility of my little thinking that she is a "cat", having a best friend who is a cat or adopting one of the kitties as a security blanket! LOL. I can see her doing all the stuff that baby Tyler does for and to Barney! Pulling on the cat's tail and the cat patiently putting up with it, kissing the cat(s), feeding the cat(s) human baby food through the playpen or deliberately dropping it onto the floor from the highchair, playing like a cat and of course she will probably prefer the cat's toys over her own! I can even see the cats willing giving up their toys so that they can have hers in exchange! LOL! Which of course they will most likely destroy on impact! I can even see myself (or my husband) yelling the child's name, no and the cat's name, no as they conspire against me in some crazy antic that they KNOW is wrong. Like tipping over the kitchen trash-can together, the child letting the cat outside because the cat knows she will "let" him, or the cat deliberately dragging the very item to the child that I said she could NOT have! LOL. But yes I have to completely, without a doubt, agree that children raised with or around animals are happier babies they grow into even happier children. Children raised around animals learn at an early age not to abuse them, they eventually learn to love (or at the very least accept) animals and having fur-kids interacting with human kids helps aid the child's hand-eye movement and motor skills. Personally, I think kids who are raised around animals are smarter and develop faster then children who are not. Although there is not a veterinarian currently within our family, we also have hopes for our daughter choosing a career path in veterinary medicine. I have ALWAYS wanted to be a veterinarian, but when I got involved in rescue work, I just did not have the time and energy for both. Eventually, I had to chose. Since I could save lived now in the present, that is the choice I made. I may not be a practicing State Board licensed veterinarian, but I have enough knowledge and experience to help assist the veterinarians that I DO know and have been blessed with veterinarians who are willing to work with me. I want my daughter to pick up where I left off. Thank you SO much for sharing! Lora --- catatonya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Congratulations from me as well! My sister went through her first pregnancy at 41 a little over a year ago. lol. They had 3 cats and 3 dogs at the time. (Well they still do!) She had her husband clean the litters, but other than that there have been no real issues. I hope it is the same for you. Her 'trouble boy' cat did scratch the baby bed as soon as we got it put up! (But we hid it from her husband.) lol. They did decide to keep the baby's room closed off from the cats at the beginning. If my sister or her husband were in the nursery they allowed them in, but at night they closed off the baby's room just to keep the cats from getting cat hair all in the baby's bed and unintentionally scratching him. The cats and dogs mostly ignored the baby until he was old enough to start crawling around a bit. He just loves them all to death now and will chase them. Everyone runs away from him except one dog who is Tyler's buddy. Overall it went much better than they feared. He's had a few minor, accidental scratches, but nothing bad. He has more accidents involving toys and sofas and coffee tables etc. than he does with the animals. One of the cats (the 'bad' boy, Ottis) will allow Tyler to pet him until he gets too rough and will go to him, etc. The other two cats ignored him completely for the most part when he was by himself, but would sit with him when he was being held by my sister, etc. One of their neighbors talked about having a cat with her baby that always slept with him, but with 13 cats you probably don't want that! Before Tyler was walking he was just enthralled with the cats. Maybe because they didn't pay him much attention. If one walked by he would just laugh and get so excited, especially if one would let him touch him or her. His favorite book is that "Jingle Cats". I think the worse thing is we are all worried that Tyler thinks he is a dog! He started getting into the food and water dishes as soon as he could scoot around on the floor. As an only child his best friend is a basset mix (Barney) who he shares all his cookies and food with and constantly plays with. Barney is one of those dogs that lets Tyler sit on him, pull his tail, anything for food. lol. When Tyler learned to give kisses he mostly kissed Barney (much to my mother's dismay!) My sister started putting Tyler in a playpen when she gave him zwieback cookies or other snacks so Barney wouldn't get them, but Tyler would just push them through the loops and give them to Barney! Tyler frequently plays 'like a dog' and chases toys, etc.. because that's how he plays with Barney. He gives all his toys to Barney who promptly chews them up. When I talk to my sister on the phone all I can hear is "Tyler, no, Barney, no! Get out of the kitchen Tyler and Barney!" Barney was a stray my sister and brother in law took in. The other two dogs are jealous of Tyler, but mostly ignore him. I really think children brought up with pets are happier children. My sister spends a lot of time training Tyler not to pull tails, etc. and as he gets older he's starting to understand it and the rest of the animals are warming up to him more. I'm determined for my nephew to be a vet, so we are starting training early! Good luck! Tonya --- catatonya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: One other thing Lora. You should if at all possible get some help. My sister couldn't keep up with everything for the baby's first year. She lives out of state, so the family is not close enough to help her like we would if she lived here. Taking care of a baby is a full time job and you already have a full time job with that many animals. If you can afford some help with cleaning or pet care you should get it and not feel guilty about it! t __________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - Make it your home page! http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs