Fun with Frankie

I had some small anxiety and fears that Nicco would be a bit overwhelming to the little cat. He loves animals so much, but they don't always understand his love (right, Gary?). He has a habit of putting his face right up in the face or belly of whatever animal he happens to be loving on, shakes his head and says things like "I love you so much...ooh I love you love you love you." I was hoping that getting a small kitten would help, so that the cat would be accustomed to Nicco's affection from the beginning. In the worst case, I hoped that she would befriend me most of all so that I could at least mediate and intervene for Nicco. Mostly I was just hoping that the cat wouldn't hate the boy.

As expected, her first day was spent in terror, cowering in corners and hiding behind or under the couch. When she did venture out, Nicco would run up to her, with his hands stretched out to grab her and squealing or yelling in excitement. Nicco needed a little training too.

The day after Christmas, little miss Frankie toured the house, smelling all the corners and all the people. She wasn't frightened of us anymore, and in fact, has become quite an attention whore. She's very playful and very loving (yay!), even with my somewhat wildly affectionate son.

She lets Nicco snuggle her, and even approaches him sometimes on her own.

Here, he was playing games on his new laptop. I missed the perfect picture just moments before I snapped this one. He was explaining the game he was playing to his pet, and asking her questions. She was sitting up looking right at him, as if she were actually listening and comprehending what he was saying to her.

And, they have a game:

Now I just need to convince Nicco that the catbox is his job.