A New Cat in the House

Violet has a new game she likes to play. She pretends to be a cat.

Sounds cute, right?

It starts that way. But then quickly spirals into the annoying. She meows at us, refusing to use words. She crawls everywhere and insists that "little kitties don't know how to" climb stairs, sit in chairs, get dressed, etc. I've caught her licking herself and trying to pick toys off the ground with her mouth.

Annoying and kind of gross.

I've spoken to a few child experts (ie: my neighbors), who both just chuckled and started reminiscing about when their boys pretended to be dogs, going so far as to require their food be placed on the floor. So I guess it could be worse. In fact, it seems like most parents have stories like this. So I'm trying to be patient, let this one ride itself out. Matt has reached the point where he's wanted to forbid it outright, but I worry that this will only make the phase last longer. I've resorted to ignoring it, continuing to talk to her and treat her like a human. There's also been a little bribing involved, in the form of "little kitties don't eat dessert, so you'll have to turn back into a little girl..." It works most of the time.

I'm wondering if it's some weird response to the imminent new baby. Acting like a helpless little kitten who requires being carried is not that far off from pretending to be a baby again, which I've heard can happen when a new sibling enters the scene. Or maybe all kids do this at some point and Violet just picked this time. Either way, I'm riding it out until school starts and then laying down the law the cats don't go to school. Hopefully that will be the end of it. Unless one of you has any better advice?

Can you spot the real cat?