MASTER MANIPULATOR

It was at about 12:45 a.m. last night (this morning?) that I realized Matt and I have raised a furry little monster manipulator.


When our room was upstairs, we wouldn't let TJ sleep with us during the week. He generally ran amok around 3 a.m., which meant waking up, locating him, trying not to fall down the stairs, as we kicked him out and shut the door. Sleep usually came pretty quickly and peacefully after that.


However, moving our room downstairs has created a problem we didn't anticipate.
We've sort of let him sleep in our room now during the week, but usually only if it's a non-morning-workout day for Matt or I.. because we need some good sleep those nights. Apparently TJ has enjoyed this a little too much, because he goes BALLISTIC when we don't let him in the room.


You people with dogs and no cats are probably eye rolling and wondering, "how much of a ruckus can a tiny 8 pound cat make...?"


Well, two things happen in our house now. We either let him sleep with us until about 4 when he gets annoying and we boot him.. he usually eats soon thereafter and is not as big of a pain, or the alternative- we leave him out of the room from the start, and what happened last night unfolds.


12:45 a.m., TJ must have finally realized it's bed time and he wasn't invited. He's PISSED. He starts with a small mewl. "waaa....................waaa waa. waaa."


He waits maybe 30 seconds before realizing he's not being acknowledged. His mewl turns into a louder wail. I say wail, and not meow, because it's not a typical cat meow. It actually sounds like he's screaming. Have you seen the screaming goats video? That's my cat. "AAAHHH, ... AHHHHH."


45 seconds go by, he's at DEFCON 1 now (fun fact, 1 is actually more severe than 5): "BLLAAHH!!! BLAAHHH!! BLAAHHH!!!" he then begins his assault on 2 fronts and starts THROWING HIMSELF at things. The door. The old dresser sitting in the office. He'll rear up and start to mess with our doorknob. It'd be hilarious (still kind of is) if I wasn't so tired. I weigh my options, because upstairs we could ignore his howls through the door or even with a pillow, he's so ornery not even a pillow over my head will help. I open the door and surrender (I'm going to be a great mother) and see him standing there. He lets out a cheerful little "Mrawr!" and is just purring and purring.. happy as a clam. He runs over to the bed, hops in, lays down, and purrs so hard he can barely breathe.


All of this to only get booted at 4 a.m. again when he decides its time to run back and forth on the headboard.


I've created a monster.