Kittens and a Baby? Were We Crazy?!

When Little A was about 7 months, right before she learned to crawl, we decided to get a couple kittens. I know, I know, the majority of our family and friends thought we were crazy but we really felt it was the right decision. So after scouring craigslist for weeks, we found a couple of sister kittens that were roughly 8 weeks old. They were Siamese Lynx Point and just oh-so-cute... so I made the hour drive to pick them up.

When I got them home, all of us thought that they were just the most perfect little bundles of fur. With those big blue eyes and tiny mews, how could you blame us for falling in love? From that first day, Little A was absolutely fascinated with them. She would just sit and watch them, giving an occasional squeal, before she could crawl. The kittens were actually to blame for her starting to crawl because she just wanted to touch them so badly.

So, Little A learned to crawl and, eventually, to walk, all the while we were teaching her how to be gentle. We showed her how to pet the cats, how it wasn't ok to pull their fur or stab them in the eyes. From very early on, she showed a great amount of respect for them, and in turn, they had respect for her. I would often find a kitten curled up next to Little A while she was playing or sitting in the buggy she was pushing around.

The Papa and I followed our instincts on how to introduce Little A to animals and how to introduce animals to our house with the least amount of stress to them. I am delighted to look back over the last year that we've had our beauties and see how right we were. Little A now treats all animals with respect. She isn't afraid of dogs in the park, nor is she blindly over-zealous with them. She has a great curiosity when we go to the zoo to look at the animals, often trying to "call" them the same way we do with our kitties.

I definitely wouldn't have done it any other way and I highly recommend introducing your kiddo to animals early on. The skills that a baby and toddler learn when it comes to animals are very useful later on in life.