...and I felt like the worst Mommy in the world.

We have two cats, Sassy (gray,tabby-ish, almost 15 years old), and Salem ( big, black, and very nosy). Anyway, we were down stairs tonight and Kerry was playing and I was doing some laundry and then I decided that the litter in the cat's box needed changed. While I was trying to put a new liner and fresh litter in, Salem (who somehow knows ahead of time when I'm going to do this so he "holds it" and waits to do his business in the fresh litter....every...time) kept jumping in and out of the box and making my job way more difficult than it had to be. Well, I got irritated and yelled at him ( I made it up to him with treats later) and I guess Kerry couldn't help but hear me as she was making pl*y-dough "pies" just a few feet away. She didn't show any sort of reaction and I didn't think anything of it until later.

Now let me just mention that lately when Kerry is, shall we say, naughty (she's two AND she's a "spicy Jiangxi girl" so it does happen) and I sometimes have to scold her, her new way of apologizing is to do something sweet or cute and then say "I make Mommy happy." Sometimes its like a statement, and other times it's more of a question. I usually say something like "Yes, Sweetie, you make Mommy very happy. Mommy loves you, even when you're a little stinker." I find it interesting that she does this, and I don't want her getting the idea that my love for her is conditional.

Anway, we made our way upstairs and I started dinner. And all evening she was just being extra sweet and kept giving me hugs and wanted to hold my hand through dinner-time and she kept saying " Make Mommy happy?". I was wondering what it was all about and then I finally traced it back to the litter-box incident. I don't think she'd ever heard me use that tone of voice and I guess it startled her. I felt about this big. I felt so bad that I'd snapped at the poor cat, in front of Kerry, and then she somehow felt she needed to make me "happy" again. Needless to say I gave her lots of hugs and kisses and assured her that Mommy is very "happy" and we had a good tickle fest and lots of giggles and she seemed to be just fine by bed time. I'm glad to know that Kerry is starting to show concern for the feelings of those around her, and show empathy, but I'm definitely going to be more careful with how I handle irritation from now on.

On another note, and because a new post = photos, check out how long Kerry's hair is getting!