Kahlen and Bazinga

Kahlen coming to visit is both exciting and distressing to Bazinga. From the moment she walks through the door, he is by her side. Partly because he is hoping she is transporting some yummy morsel of toddle food that she will either drop or he will find a chance to steal. Mostly, because he loves playing with her. She is always willing to throw a ball or snuggle up with him, or lavish some sort of attention on him.  Sometimes the attention is not to his liking, but for the most part they are best buds.

Having Kahlen and Bazinga in the house at the same time is probably a lot like having a set of twin toddlers scurrying around.

If one isn't getting into something, the other certainly is. For instance,  yesterday, after cleaning up Kahlen's creative use of her lunch, I walked out to the kitchen to find her foam rubber ball torn to shreds. It was everywhere. Bazinga has been unusually calm today though. Probably has a stomach ache. Since Kahlen has gotten here he has consumed one rubber ball, six crayons, one plastic cup and one chicken nugget stolen off of Kahlen's table. And that's only what I know of. His poo has been multi-colored and strangely textured, (I know this because I clean it up when he goes, I don't examine it closely.)

 Kahlen loves Bazinga, but she is not above making sure he knows who is boss. She spends much time scolding him when he barks. She pulls at him and pokes at him. He is amazingly calm with her. He may chew on her in a puppy playful manner, (which I make sure he knows is unacceptable,) but he has never nipped or even come close to biting her. It is quite the balancing act, keeping her from hurting him and making sure he knows he is never ever to bite her. I feel like I spend most of my day saying "be nice," to Kahlen, and "no biting!" to Bazinga.

 Mia, being a cat, is a little more clever than Bazinga. The fact that I am saying that Mia is clever, is quite a surprise to me. Almost to the point that I expect the sky to fall in at any moment. Mia and clever just don't belong in the same sentence. When it comes to Kahlen, though, she is. She knows we have a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. Mia stays upstairs. She gets a little lonely, but Kahlen LOVES Mia. Mia does not appreciate Kahlen's brand of "love." The poking and squeezing, is just not Mia's cup of tea. Mia does love attention, but she is a little more discriminating about the type of attention she pursues. She does not believe that any attention is good attention. I believe this does make her smarter than Lindsey Lohan, and certainly smarter than Charlie Sheen.

Bazinga gets the brunt of Kahlen's love and affection. I think it is good for both of them, though it has made me want to lock myself in the freezer in the basement to scream on occasion. She is slowly learning to be nice to a creature smaller than her, and he is learning patience with a person that pinches a little to hard. They both run the other to a point of exhaustion, and neither seems to understand when to stop.

When Kahlen is napping Bazinga gets very impatient waiting for her to wake up. I think he may even bark at things "outside" on purpose to try to wake her. He will bark, looking at the back door as if there is something out there, then come over and peak at Kahlen to see if she is still asleep. The little brat! Luckily, for me, and maybe for him, it didn't work today and Kahlen is still blissfully asleep. Ok, yeah, it's my bliss, I love her dearly, but even a Gramma needs a break now and then.