October 17, 2007
C Is for Cookie; F Is for Foxface
Get this: When Simon shut down the fireplace last night, instead of turning the switch to "off" he accidentally switched it to "thermostat." This morning when I woke up (always with the mewing!), the fireplace had turned itself on and was blowing warm air across the hardwood floors. It's a Halloween miracle; the Great Pumpkin has risen! So it was a pleasant morning as rainy mornings go: Simon and Eve took tea and cereal in front of the flames and listened to a podcast while I wrangled the little one and explained to him why it wasn't nice to overturn the basket full of mama's underwear and then frolic in the pile as if in a field of daisies.
And speaking of trying to talk sense to a dumb little kitty brain...Since Linus is still on the kitten chow, we try to keep him away from Eve's big-kid food. But Linus? Doesn't really care. This morning Simon found him facedown in the food dish painted with the word "Princess," buried up to his ears in kibble and gnawing away like there was a prize at the bottom. "Stop eating Eve's food!" Simon admonished, picking him up and taking him into the bathroom, where we keep the kitten chow. I could tell Simon was about ready to launch into a lecture on how Linus needs to respect Eve's food and space and the rules of the house, etc., but before he could get out a word to that effect, he was standing in front of the bowl of kitten chow, at which Eve was happily nom-nom-nomming away on Linus's food. Kids...
***
You may have noticed that Linus has a bit of an unusual middle name: Foxface. Yes, he does look a bit like a pointy-nosed fox every once in a while, but that's not where the name came from. It came from this:
Cartoon by Bruce Eric Kaplan, New Yorker, October 1, 2007
If you're familiar with my regular tirades on baby naming, you will understand that there was method and deep, seething irony to our madness. Also, although we've cut out the cartoon and tacked it to the kitchen bulletin board, we wouldn't object if you wanted to buy us a framed print for $150. We'll hang it in Linus's nursery (a.k.a. the bathroom) over his crib (a.k.a. the hamper).
Sometimes, in addition to being a Foxface, he's a Cookie Face, as in "I made you a cookie but I eated it." The first photo on the last entry is an example. Here's another:
Isn't hims just too, too clubbable? I mean, he really is a cute little bugger when he isn't, you know, going batshit crazy.
Sorry that I have nothing else to write about but my dumb cats. I'm all unexplicably fragile and self-pitying this week (cried when I droped a box of graham crackers on the floor and they all broke; almost cried when I found an intern microwaving my LeanCuisine because he thought it was his). It's not like I'm dragging around like Droopy Dog, it's just that I'm less able to handle the tiny misfortunes that come my way, for instance: the formerly pointy lead of my pencil, now dull and in need of sharpening, is somehow incredibly sad. Perhaps my brain could use a little of that rotary blade action as well? Shave off the excess, bring the core to the surface.
Posted by Leah at October 17, 2007 02:02 PMI love your kitty's name. Are you going to dress his up for Halloween?
Posted by: Amanda Brown at October 17, 2007 02:22 PMI meant to say "dress HIM up" but the typo is a little fitting, a subliminal lolcatz slip.
Posted by: Amanda Brown at October 17, 2007 02:22 PMUgh, here's wishing you a better day.
Posted by: Janssen at October 17, 2007 02:59 PMMike and I joked--ages ago--about naming our first child Jaberwocky Sam because it seemed like easily the most fun name to yell. (We may--possibly--have been drunk when we came to this conclusion.) So whenever we talk about kids, that name still comes up and causes a laugh or two.
I'm actually a bit scared the nickname is going to stick and our future kid is going to forever hate his/her lousy drunk parents.
Posted by: Jennie at October 17, 2007 03:17 PMOhh very jealous of little kitty cat - there is something so special about Ginger cats... As for his name - its a good one - everybody (even the pets) need a useful middle name that they can swap to if they decide that their first just doesn't suit anymore.
Posted by: Anna at October 17, 2007 04:36 PMI have a friend who's brother named his kids Anakin and Arwin. No joke. Third grade is really going to suck.
I just started reading your blog. I love your writing :).
Posted by: January at October 17, 2007 05:00 PMDelurking to say: exhaustion + crying = time to get a pregnancy test!
If so, happy baby naming!
Posted by: T-Beck at October 17, 2007 05:20 PMT-beck and I are thinking alike.
Posted by: Teej at October 17, 2007 05:40 PMI once had to hold back tears over the fact that September was ending, and so I had to change the picture on the calendar. In that same day I got angry and slammed the lid back on my lip-gloss so hard it smooshed, and had to wipe away actual tears at a picture of a baby kitten.
I blame PMS.
Um... me too on the pregnancy test?
I instantly thought AH! PREGNANT! when you said "crushing fatigue." That's exactly it.
Lest these other ladies make you cry some more with this pregnancy talk - I too have been experiencing crushing fatigue and mopiness at the smallest things (I dropped cereal on my just-vacummed carpet...waaaaahhhhh!!), and I'm pretty sure pregnancy is not the culprit - because I get this way (to varying degrees) once every month. For me the severity of it is often a matter of climate change or other factors.
In any case, I hope you feel better, and I don't think I speak for myself when I say I love reading about your cats and seeing pictures of them. They are so adorable. And I'm going to start using the phrase 'nom-nom-nomming' in everyday speech if that's alright with you.
Posted by: Super-S at October 18, 2007 02:51 AMI guess while you are confessing your crying moments of the week I will take the time and confess to you mine....hopefully making you laugh and feel much better about your own tears.
I farted while doing situps. At the gym. In front of my trainer. And then I cried.
No really.
Commence with the laughing.
No really, it's ok.
Along with the rest of your comment-ors... pregnancy test might be in order? Sounds more like that than PMS... I for one was like this before our "unplanned" pregnancy and thought nothing of it until the morning I almost blew chunks because of the smell of coffee (and I felt like I was 12 again because my chest hurt so bad but really that was all in the same moment when it dawned on me that I might be pregnant - HOLY SHIT!)
Posted by: ChrisFish at October 18, 2007 07:47 AMI love pet posts! Your kitty pictures are gorgeous.
Posted by: Sara at October 18, 2007 08:42 AMAw. I hope you feel better soon. I've had weeks like that, too.
Posted by: Ky Eliza at October 18, 2007 09:48 AMAre those photos a ploy to get me to come out there? Because it's working...
Posted by: Heather B. at October 18, 2007 10:41 AMI don't think you are pregnant. I think you have that SAD disease (seasonal affective disorder) - you are feeling tired and crying because you miss the extra hours of sunshine. I get it too, I think (complete armchair psychologist diagnosis, BTW).
Also, the new kitten is sooooo sweet and I loved the picture of him and Eve NOT cuddling on the chair.
Posted by: Jules at October 18, 2007 11:21 AMI don't think you are pregnant. I think you have that SAD disease (seasonal affective disorder) - you are feeling tired and crying because you miss the extra hours of sunshine. I get it too, I think (complete armchair psychologist diagnosis, BTW).
Also, the new kitten is sooooo sweet and I loved the picture of him and Eve NOT cuddling on the chair.
Posted by: Jules at October 18, 2007 11:22 AMFrom my not inconsiderable experience, I can certainly say that a woman does not need to be pregant to be an emotional loon.
/snark
:-)
Posted by: iamnot at October 18, 2007 11:42 AMAgreed with iamnot. I am also proof of that.
Posted by: Clink at October 18, 2007 12:01 PMI am so with you on these feelings. Everything seems too hard, suddenly.
And cats! Oh, my cute. And nocturnal, right?
Posted by: Sueb0b at October 18, 2007 08:34 PMI check your blog often for updates and everytime I see the title of this entry, the Cookie Monster song "C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me!" gets stuck in my head!! lol Thank you very much!!! :)
Hope you are feeling better soon!! We all get like that sometimes!
Posted by: Sabrina at October 19, 2007 06:29 AMI love Linus.
Posted by: SAJ at October 19, 2007 07:32 AMAny advice for a new cat owner?
I'm two days in and about to lose my head. I have two kittens (yes, two, and why I did this I still can't explain), and they're generally wild and out of control. Help.
Posted by: Stefanie at October 23, 2007 12:04 PMYou have two options: one involves waiting for them to grow out of it (it WILL happen, I promise), and the other involves a burlap sack and a river.
We're having some success in getting Linus to sleep when we play with him HARD before bedtime. He already knows how to fetch, and he loves running around after a little stuffed fish on a string, so we usually get him caught up in that sort of thing for at least a half hour before bed, and then he's less likely to scream and scratch and carry on when the rest of us are trying to sleep. Good luck!
Posted by: Leah at October 23, 2007 01:12 PM
