Rose really really likes the neighbourhood cat, Ben. He’s been coming by at least once a day for a saucer of milk, and Rose usually stops whatever she’s doing (even eating ice cream!) to come over and talk to him.
The only problem is that she doesn’t really know very much about cats. She doesn’t seem to grasp the fact that he’s not a person. You have to do a lot of explaining and mediating her interactions (“Rose, don’t push his head into the saucer!” “Rose, don’t wrap his tail around your wrist like a bracelet,” and “When Ben runs away like that it means he’s scared.”). This is pretty understandable, she’s never really interacted with a cat before.
Things start to get a little weird, however, when you listen in to her conversations with Ben. The other day she asked him if he’d like to have a picnic with her. This evening she told him about getting a letter from her friend Phoebe, and then rushed off to get the letter to show him. Then I had to explain that Ben isn’t really interested in Tinkerbell gumboots. All very strange, adorable, and funny.
Her paternalistic attitude towards Ben in thinking that he needs help with everything is somewhat reflected in her relationship to Tess. She’s always been interested in helping with Tess, in particular with giving Tess bottles. But just recently she has been really helpful taking Tess’s shoes and coat off when we come home. It absolutely melts my heart to hear here mimicking adultspeak to Tess. “Come on, Tess. Let’s take your shoes off. Here you go, now your coat.”
Tonight we were over at Will and Ann’s place for dinner. Tess started crying at one point, she had tried to push a toy stroller down some steps and went for a tumble. I picked Tess up for a cuddle. Rose implored me to let her cuddle Tess. Tess wasn’t completely reassured by the semi-headlock that Rose put her in, but she understood the love.
Filed under: Rose
