Under that blanket is Wil. He’s sleeping after working the night shift. The kittens are “helping” him. It’s an amazing picture because they were actually napping along side him, nice and quiet. They woke up when I came in to put away some clean socks.

Wil and I have different animal parenting techniques. Mine is influenced by my uncle Skip, who was a vet. He told me, when I adopted Pru, that I should never feed her immediately after getting up in the morning or she would learn to wake me up when she wanted food. So I used to feed her as I was walking out the door to work. Prudence had plenty of issues, but she was very patient and polite in the morning. I use the same strategy with George and Kirby. Wil does not.

Wil is a big softy. After Momo passed, Pru came out of her shell with him and trained him to give her treats every time he walked in or out the front door. Or when she just gave him a sweet look. He was so thrilled that she finally liked him, he was easily trained.

The boys have taken it one step further. They have trained him to give them treats whenever they annoy him. Kirby will sit on his chest, when he is sleeping and yowl. And he will GET UP AND GIVE THEM BOTH TREATS. To distract them. Do you see the flaw in this technique? They also like to annoy him when he’s playing computer games. They crawl all over the keyboard and sit in front of the monitor. He gets frustrated so he gets up AND GIVES THEM TREATS. He also gives them treats when he walks in and out of the front door. Or they meow sweetly, giving him cute kitten face.

Big softy. Big sleepy softy.