Success at last!!!!

Baxter tries to sleep with me sometimes. Thankfully, not under the covers! He'll cuddle up into a ball and lay close to  my body on my side. When he's being a quiet little boy, it is rather endearing and even keeps me warm in the winter. Lately, that's not the case. He'll sleep peacefully next to me for about an hour or so, and by this time I am sound asleep. Then, all of a sudden, he jumps up and wanders near my head (the only exposed part of me!), and starts poking me with his paw. I am not sure why he's doing this now, or for what reason. More than likely, it's hunger that motivates him. It's what usually motivates him. He would eat all day if I let him!

The only way I could seem to get him to stop this annoyance was to rush downstairs and actually feed him a bit of dry food. Not good, I know. I was giving him exactly what he wanted and perpetuating the problem. I know, I know. Bad Mommy.

So I determined that I had had enough. Enough of the pounding on my head and the waking up at all hours of the night only to rush downstairs and give in to the little bugger. Not any more. No sir.

So two weeks ago I closed my bedroom door to Baxter. And he cried, and he cried outside of it. It really broke my heart to hear him. Eventually, he'd go away only to come back again awhile later and cry some more really pitiful cries. But......I wouldn't give in. I had to teach my little guy that I wasn't going to put up with his shenanigans any longer. No sir.

Then I started to hear him jump up and try to open my door. I have the lever kind of door knob and he is a big fellow and could reach it. But try as he might, he couldn't seem to accomplish his goal. Whew! What a determined feline he was. All this nighttime activity was exhausting me!

Then last Thursday night as I lay sound asleep, curled into a ball in La-La land, I felt a large lump jump onto my bed and proceed to paw at my head!!! I awoke startled to say the least. "Could it he he had finally figured out how to open my door???? Is that possible?" I wondered to myself. "Can cats really be that smart and unrelenting?"

I wandered into the hallway thinking perhaps my husband had opened the door on his way to the bathroom. Maybe he saw how sad Baxter looked sitting outside my bedroom door and felt sorry for him. Nope. He was sound asleep. Not a chance.

I marveled at his tenacity and proceeded to run downstairs and give in to his needs again. Satisfied once more, he left me alone the rest of the night.

It was a good thing too. This time, I locked that blasted door!!!!!