Hello, more stories from the house of Bear.  Bear is just a baby, only 7
months or so, and with more than his share of kitten cuteness.  (I shared
earlier about his gassy tendencies)  Well, he has another trait that has
manifested itself slowly over the months that is seriously going to impact
Christmas at my house.
We spoil our kitties and pretty much anything they want to play with is fair
game - pipe cleaners are a big favorite, furry mice, peacock feathers and
the laser pointer .  Davey (Bear's brother) is a tireless retriever so my
house is littered with toys.  A few weeks ago we got a package, and put down
the empty box for the kittens to play in.  Bear jumped in and grabbed one of
the flaps and started gnawing at it.  He seemed to like punching his teeth
into the cardboard, chewing on it, then he closed his little eyes and RIPPED
off a chunk!  What a triumph!  Chuck said "look at that!  He'd rather chew
on it than play in it!"  We started to think about it and realized that if
Bear is playing in the newspapers on the floor (where I throw them while I
read it) he is more inclined to be chewing on the papers while he and Davey
look for "mice" in them.  If he's sitting on a magazine on the coffee table,
he will reach down and gnaw on it (much to his daddy's dismay)  And best of
all, while I'm sorting the mail, he has on several occasions grabbed an
envelope (with the bill/junk mail/whatever) IN IT, and hauled it off to chew
at his leisure.
I have always celebrated Christmas all month - putting up the tree right
after Thanksgiving and putting the wrapped packages I have already bought
and wrapped under the tree.  Well, guess what.  A CARDBOARD box with easily
RIPPED PAPER around it?  I might as well roll it in catnip while I'm at it.
Fortunately my only child is grown so no one will care if I wait until the
last week to do the tree/package thing, and I can't see any way around it.
I just wonder if he will always be a box chewer, or if next year I can go
back to normal?  Or whatever is normal in a house that is ruled by The Fat
Furry One.
Loving every minute of it-

Cindy