Experiencing life instead of documenting it: A 3 YO reads to our cat

The other week 3 YO Mojo had a tricycle wreck which earned him his first trip to the ER and 6 stitches in his chin.  Those stitches had to stay in for 6 days and unknown to him he had something in common with Ripley, one of our cats.  A week prior to that she went to the doctor to have minor surgery near her eye; which required her to have 6 stitches too.  After that the major difference that he noticed about her was that the cone she wore around her head was convenient for putting his Little People in.

This isn’t entirely some dopey cat story, I promise.    Our kids and pets do something cute every single day.  Social media, for better or worse makes it easier to share things in our lives.

When 3YO Mojo had his stitches taken out I explained to him that Ripley still had hers in, and that was why she had to wear the cone.  He would then run around the house muttering something about ‘stitzches’ ‘Ripley’ and other magical things that 3 year olds talk about.

I left him to his own devices for a moment and then when I didn’t hear anything asked where he was.

“Reading to Ripley”, he said.

Figuring that I didn’t understand him correctly I went into the living room to see what he was doing.

Sure enough, he was reading a Curious George book to Ripley the cat.  It was a vocabulary book, but he was pointing out the different animals in the zoo to our coned cat.  I wanted to run, get a camera and document the entire experience.

But instead I just sat there and watched him read to Ripley.  Read, is putting it nicely, the book was in front of the cats face, but she was in the corner of the sofa, desperately trying to get away from this forced story time.  He pointed out his favorite animals, said something about the animals that weren’t t here, where they lived and so on.

He read the book to her once, then reached over and got another book that he brought with him.  Ripley might have been happier sleeping in the sunny spot on the floor, but 3 YO Mojo was having a great time.

That would’ve been a super cute video.  But, then again it’s possible that by the time I got back with the camera the entire event would’ve stopped-and I wouldn’t have seen any of it.

We have more pets than the average family.  Pets certainly have a financial expense, especially one older cat that just had to undergo eye surgery.  But that moment, when he was reading to her it made the expenses worthwhile.