Cats and Aliens

This is Java. She's a rescue. She's 8 yrs old and been in our family for 5 years. She is super talkative. She greets us whenever we come home and likes to remind us of our routines.

She eats when we eat. She let's us know when something isn't right (a phone ringing, dish empty, litter needing changed etc). She let's us know it's time to go to bed and gets upset when we're sitting in different areas. She watches the most interesting thing in the room - whatever that might be (a person, the TV etc). Her favorite thing is to sit between us so we can both pet her.

She also likes to nap when I nap (curled up beside or on top of me). In the middle of the night she will lay down in my arms like a live version of a stuffed animal, except she's much softer, warmer, and purrs soothingly.

Reading all this it almost sounds like Java is a dog, but of course, she's not. Like other cats, she likes to sleep for extended periods of time. As such, she REALLY likes to sleep in soft cuddly places, especially those that let her hide.

I love our cat. She's been like a child substitute these past 5 years. Of course now kiddo is coming into the picture, our little alien baby, and I can't help but wonder how this will work. Java is gentle, but she likes attention. While she has lived with other cats and can do it reasonably well, kiddo is not a cat (though newborn noises and cat noises sound eerily similar).

I know from my limited experience cleaning and unwrapping baby toys that Java will like to play with kiddo's toys as much as kiddo (if not more so) though she has been told not to. She also likes to rub up against my belly and purrs like crazy even when kiddo decides to punch or kick her. It doesn't phase her at all. And while she would love to explore the cosleeper we just acquired, both Christian and I have made it clear to her, in no uncertain and very scary terms, that area is off limits. She has, without anything more than us freaking her out, stayed off the cosleeper. This bodes well.

The only thing I'm a little concerned with is at night. She likes to walk all over us, and her intact claws can be sharp (though I try to keep up with trimming them). I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it goes. As much preparation as I can do, nothing will really compare to having a live, squirming, messy alien.