Casper and Penny

Penny is the cat. She's warmed up a little to Casper - we still have growling and scratching at space invasions, but we also have the occasional rub against the back of the legs. But Casper still really likes Penny, and it's a riot. She'll interrupt a whiny fit to suddenly say, in her perkiest tones, "Hey Penny!" Last night we allowed a Halloween lollipop after dinner (aside: never did I imagine I would be bribing my kid to eat her dinner by promising salad dressing as a treat) and Casper walked up to Penny and said, "Hey Penny! I have a lollipop!" She's always showing off her toys and food to Penny - it's like she realizes the cat is a sentient being, one who's small like her, but hasn't grasped the essential walnut-sizedness of the cat's brain.

Other things Casper still doesn't quite get: occasionally she still asks to hold something that we see a picture of in a book. No, you can't hold the puppy on the catalog cover. It's a picture. This is an interesting concept for me to watch the brain grapple with.

I love the accidental grammar mishaps. A common one is, "Yes you am!"

I have been up since 3. Partly because I am turning into my mother, who has had a problem with 3-5am insomnia for as long as I can remember, and partly because a stuffy head descended on me with such force that it woke me up. Sniff. Yuck.

email from mr. flea

Casper and I went down to the basement this morning and I showed her the
furnace. I explained to her how it works and why it makes noise. Then
I had her hit it and tell it "Bad furnace! You stop scaring me in the
night." This seemed to work.

(Actually, she's been much, much better. She still will do a little cuddling at a furnace noise, or will say, "That's the heater." She also asks what every other noise is. "What's that noise?" "It's Penny using her litter box." "What's that noise?" "It's a train." "It's in the distance." The phrases she keeps in her head! We have a book that mentions a train whistle in the distance.)