I gave the kids the job of writing the blog tonight, and they have provided their own details about life with Alex. This is a collective effort of composition, and although I expect my 14 year old son exercised overall some editorial con- trol, I’m sure it represents the common contribution and individual voices of each. I really don’t know, because I’ve been resting all evening. The project was done entirely without my help (except for the pictures). So, without further ado, here are the Janaro kids….Janaro children speaking: for those of you who have not checked Daddy’s Facebook in the last 2 months, we have a kitten. All cat lovers and blogs about the kids lovers out there will love this blog. It all started when our neighbor gave her old cat to her grandchildren. Once the resident “top of the food chain” left, the mice started partying and decided to make their merriment in our house (much to the discomfort and annoyance of everyone). After driving the vast hordes of rodents (possibly 1 or 2 mice) we decided that we must get another predator to guard against the evil rodent hordes. We looked at various candidates for the job and asked to see their résumé. Most of them did not qualify for the job (mainly because we were always arguing about which ones to get).
One night, Mommy got an email from someone saying that they had a kitten that they wanted to give away. It included a picture of the applicant (kitten) who looked like they fit the qualifications (cuteness, mouse catching capabilities, cuteness, cuteness, cuteness, and fluffiness). We agreed that she was the perfect kitten for us. On October 15th, we finally picked her up. We incarcerated her in a dreadful plastic cage and she showed her displeasure by meowing all the way home. When we got home she tried to run away, so Mommy bought some peg boards to make a little pen for her to restrain her instinct to run away from reckless 5-year-olds who want to unrelentingly squeeze and hug her. Those didn’t keep her from jumping out, so we that night we had to completely cover the pen with cardboard. By the time the week was over, she had become pretty used to her new surroundings.
After the first night, we still had the problem of naming her. Her former owner had named her Gracie, but w all agreed that we did not want to name her that. We looked on websites with popular cat names, looked in the Latin dictionary, thought of characters from literature, but eventually we decided to name her after Alex Ovechkin, the star player on the Washington Capitals, who we are fans of. Since she is a girl, we named her Alexandra, and we call her Alex for short.
As the weeks went by, we noted her fine qualities (not being too vicious when the reckless five-year-old turns her upside down, liking to be held by the non reckless five-year-olds, not wanting to be held too long by the non reckless five-year olds, etc.). She is also very good at catching crickets which is a promising sign that she will be able to hold off the vast hordes of mice. Climbing trees is not one of her strong points however. When she climbs a tree we usually have to get her down or we need to stretch out a blanket under her. She is also the one of the most privileged animals in the world because she is the first larger than a mouse animal ever to come into our house (Daddy is allergic to cats and dogs), though she only comes into the house when it is cold outside at night, and then only in the second bathroom.
We have had her for two months now, and at the rate she is getting pampered and fed, she will be very fat.
