Parents Do the Darndest Things

Sometimes, as a parent, we do things we wouldn't normally do. We have four daughters which equates to a lot of chaos in our household.  Why would anyone want to add additional chaos to the circus? Yet sometimes, we do just that. We in the Bacon household just added to the chaos. We just got a kitten.

Stella Blue

Stella Blue is a tiny, little, buff kitten gotten from one of Wendy's friend and coworker. There was some back and forth concerning what to name the little feline. We went back and forth with several names. IdaLena and Patience came up with Sugar, changed their minds and decided on Sandy. Wendy liked Felicity. Corliss liked the name, Princess, which we all hated. I jokingly said Pork Chop, as in "Cat -- the Other White Meat." It's only a joke, trust me.

Then I was listening to a Grateful Dead show and "Stella Blue" started playing. The light bulb lit and I made that suggestion. Three out of four girls liked it (Corliss being contrary did not), and Wendy liked it. It took some sweet talking with Corliss, but we eventually got her to come around to the name, Stella Blue.

She slept in the living room with a towel from her first home and a toy that Corliss bought for her from the store. This morning, the girls were saying that Stella was jumping in and out of the box. They were carrying her around the house before school. Before leaving for a massage, I placed the cat in the box and maybe let her sleep a little.

When I got home from the massage, I could hear the cat meowing and saw her running around the living room like she owned the place. Once I walked into the room, Stella decided that she needed to be near me or on me. Currently, as I write this, she is sleeping on my foot. I'm not a huge cat fan, but this little thing is pretty darn cute. And she seems enamored with me. Since I'm the only one home during the day, I guess she's looking for comfort from me.

So, a little added chaos to the house can be intimidating. That was probably my biggest reservation to the whole endeavor. However, we've been thinking of getting another pet after our rabbit, Midnight, died earlier this spring. Having a pet seems to bring out the best in the kids. We give them jobs to do each week, and when we had the rabbit, they were pretty good at his upkeep.

With getting a cat, we were hoping that a little extra responsibility may actually help with them how much they help around the house. It may seem counterproductive, but getting a cat may help with controlling the chaos a little better. The girls can't leave their stuff laying on the floor for Stella to ruin or eat.

Now, I have to make sure she's not underfoot when I'm walking around. She's so tiny, I'd hate to hurt her. She was a little spastic this morning, running in circles and attacking a couch pillow. In the meantime, I have a purring little fur ball sitting on my foot. And that's good.