Strange Rituals

I know I left you hanging in my last post about some evidence of maturity in Glenwood's behavior.  It's true, but not as dramatic as I thought/wished.  I don't put all my belongings in a closet every night any more, and she sleeps later, but she still wakes up far earlier than I and has insistent means of getting my attention.

One proven strategy is to jump on the desk in my bedroom, then move to the printer, which creaks under her "weight."  Sometimes she clears the desk of papers.  This starts at about 6 am.  Get down, I say, sitting up.  One get down rarely does it, but two or three do.  At least she understands English.

Back on the floor, she walks over and stares up at me.  My role is to stare back.  We do this for a few beats, then she jumps on the bed and snuggles up, purring.  I pet her, having been manipulated into rewarding her for bad behavior to prevent it from getting worse.  If I fail to stare back, she proceeds directly to more antics without the snuggly interlude.  Snuggle-time ranges from three seconds to another hour of sleep, but sometimes we have to repeat the get down-stare ritual four or five or a thousand times a night, with no guarantee that I'll get more sleep.  I've been napping daily.  Go figure.

Once she has the household up and has snubbed her breakfast, she settles on the living room radiator with the creeping fig.  It's the perfect spot to watch bird activity on the fire escape.