Maow

Joshie came over yesterday for a few hours, while his mommy had some personal sanity time. We played music and boogied together, which is one of the cutest things in the world. What is it with one-and-a-half year-olds shaking their booty?

He just killed me - the boy is obsessed with my cat. He has a cat at home, too, and my sister is doing an excellent job of teaching him to respect the beast.

Josh uses one word for both a meow and and to identify the cat: "Maow!" It's so cute, the kid goes around the house meowing in this sweet little voice and following the cat. Zoe alternately hides and then comes back out and follows him. She loved his ball and she was totally fascinated by his trucks when they rolled across the kitchen floor. I tried teaching him to drag a string for her, and he made a good start, but he wasn't quite sure how to do it. It ended up that I pulled the string, the cat chased it, and Joshie chased the cat, cracking up with his baby laugh.

I tried to take him next door to meet Rory, the neighbors' baby who is the same age. But as soon as we got in the door, Joshie burst into tears and cried for Maow. His tears set off the normally sunny Rory to bewildered bawling too, so I gathered up my meowing, crying tot and scrambled back home. Joshie just wanted to play with and around Miss Maow. He was so happy with her presence that he didn't want to go for a walk, didn't want to go to the park, had no interest in leaving the apartment.

My sister later told me that when they drove up, Joshie recognized where he was and started calling for Maow the minute he got out of the car. Not bad for a baby.

I reminded her that when we were kids, she affectionately called our kitty "the Maowie." She had forgotten that, and it was fun for her to realize that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. :)