No Good Deed Goes As Planned

another in the occasional series of "bad babysitter" posts

Yesterday Mike and Reyna asked if we would watch the girls for an hour in the morning so that they could get some shopping done. (I'm not quite sure what kind of shopping one can't do with their kids in tow 2 weeks before Christmas... maybe they were buying ingredients for cookies?) So of course I jumped at the chance to sit for my favorite 4-year-old and her little sister. I love those kids!

As soon as they got here, Autumn made a bee-line for Milo. "A CAT!" Well they have 2 cats, so I know she knows the basics of petting, etc. He allowed her to pet him for about 30 seconds and then decided that was enough and he tried to wriggle (is that a word?) away from her and was in some serious "angry cat" posture. So I discussed the cat with the parents. "Is she going to freak out if he bites or scratches her?" Yes. So they told her to leave the kitty alone, blah blah blah.

After they left, we were sitting on the floor watching Diego (why did Dora the Explorer need a male spin-off??) and Milo came over to say hi. She and I pet him, and when he had enough, he walked away.

Hooray for my wonderful cat!

He reappeared on the top of the sofa a few minutes later and when Autumn climbed up to pet him, she was rewarded with a kitty slap - and scratches on at least one arm. She was brave about it, but was making the "I really want to cry" face. We put a band-aid on the big scratch and settled back in for more TV.

Hey you - wonderful cat - you've been banished to the balcony!

And about a half hour later, after Milo's wailing forced me to let him in off the balcony, he was sleeping in the desk chair, Cadence was sleeping on Scott's lap, and Autumn had apparently forgotten the scratch on her arm. She went over to say hi to Milo and was rewarded for her friendliness with a hiss and another kitty slap - right in the face!

Well, right about the time I was wiping off her war wounds (two 1/4" cuts that looked pretty deep to me), Mike came to collect the girls. I apologized profusely again and again, but poor Autumn got the "we told you not to touch the cat" speech. Reyna assures me that she wasn't traumatized, and that she even told her big brothers about the cat. No permanent damage, I suppose.

So there you have it - my something nice for the Holiday Season. Thank goodness it's over!