The week before last our cat Tatum ate a rubber band, and ended up at the vet having emergency surgery to get it removed because it got stuck in his small intestine. He was a very sick and sad kitty, and came home after two days with a ton of staples up his mid-section, and a cone to wear around his neck. He also had to be quarantined for almost two weeks, to keep him from running and jumping. Sabine said hi to him multiple times a day, but only under supervision. The first time he purred after we brought him home was when Sabine stuck her face in his face and said "HI!"
I may have gotten a little teary. I wasn't sure how much of their friendship was something I just wanted to see, but that definitely proved it's not just in my imagination.
We spent a lot of time talking about how Tatum was sad, and Sabine has developed a Sad Face, which is both pitiful and hilarious. Mostly it looks like she's puckering up for a melodramatic kiss. I haven't managed to get a picture yet, but believe me, I will post it when I do. It's too good not to share.
Tatum finally got the staples out yesterday, and was released to be part of the household again. He and Sabine spent a lot of time together. One of Sabine's favorite new words is "happy" (along with "apple" and "man") so we've talked a lot about how Tatum is very happy now.
(That's Tatum's face, pressing up against the other side of the screen door.)
Meanwhile Sabine is starting to recognize colors. Blue is her favorite, and she gets green right about 90% of the time. She also gets pink and purple with prompting. The rest are still pretty hit-or-miss.
She's starting to differentiate shapes. She definitely knows hearts and stars (she'll even say "heart") and usually gets circles. She's slowly figuring out puzzles, she can put the basic shapes one together pretty well, but still needs help with more complex shapes, like animals.
And speaking of animals, she can identify dozens of different animals and imitate the sound they make. She's got the whole barnyard down, as well as several jungle animals. She also recognizes most vehicles, and has a sound for trains, planes, cars, trucks, and helicopters. She also has a sign for boat.
Sabine's just a lot more expressive overall. "Yes" has turned into a full-body experience, everything nods when she's excited, from her head to her hands to her knees. She's also dancing more, and requests her music from music class daily. She's getting better at climbing, too.
I also think she's starting to show a preference for her right hand. It seems to be the one she favors for coloring, throwing, and using forks and spoons.
Sabine's sleeping much better at night (not counting last night when she was up every two hours...hopefully that's just due to a little cold she seems to be developing), typically going to bed at 7:30, getting a quick drink at 3:30 AM, and then sleeping until somewhere between 6:00 and 7:00 AM. That really started around 15 months, but we were too nervous to jinx such a fabulous new routine!
We're also starting to see the beginning of some imaginative play. Sabine has some toy food that she pretends to eat, and even has tried to feed her baby doll once or twice.
Along with the imaginative play, Sabine is also starting to show some empathy, and recognition of other people's (or cat's!) feelings. She is giving hugs without prompting, and even the occasional kiss.
We've had a lot of fun this month. (The regular sleep certainly helps us all!) We had a nice taste of some spring weather, and we're getting very excited to be able to start spending some more time outside in the months to come. Tonight, though, we're probably just staying home. Between a little cold and a pending snowstorm, it's probably a good time to break out her very favorite thing, her Baby Signing Time DVD. It's the only TV we've really let her watch, and we try not to turn it on too often. But if being sick in winter weather isn't a good excuse for a little TV, I don't know what is.
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