Speaking of the Cat

So tonight the cat was outside and I heard some barking. I looked out on the porch and sure enough a dog was chasing our cat. This is actually the second time it has happened. The dog owner explained that her dog sometimes races off before she can get the dog on the leash. It's not a huge deal, but it was a frustration.

I got down there and could not find the cat, and the dog was still racing, racing back and forth. At this point I realized, "oh, my baby is upstairs, I probably shouldn't be down here by myself." So I went up and fetched a flashlight and Sam. When I got back down the dog owner had found Theo, in a low hanging branch about eight or nine feet off the ground. She corralled her dog and I told her I could probably get the cat out of the tree once the dogs were gone.

At this point, I saw my neighbor Kenny and asked him if they could take the baby for a few minutes. (Thank you Kenny and Jennifer.) I got a basket and managed to get Theo out of the tree. He was fine. This was actually the best-treeing he has ever done (not too high, but out of reach of the dog). Kenny and Jennifer had taken good care of Sam--he seemed drowsy and pretty mellow. He was actually pretty unaware of everything, which is good.

The short of this is just that it is a new world for us. We can't "run out" for ten minutes. I think we are handling it well, but it is a big change. Sam has actually been very good today. He went to the library with Emily, he fed well and seemed happy. He did some fun cooing and mobile-watching. He is a model baby, and we want so badly to be good parents to him. On the positive side, the cat has remarkably improved over his first treeing seven years ago, so maybe we can be good parents after all...