It wasn't the cutest cat she's ever seen, and she knew it!
Daddy tried to get Miss C-Jaz's attention as we walked along our usual canal with Ganma and Ganpa, "Look, Baby, there's a cat (sitting infront of a closed glass door to a ground floor apartment)."
"Wehr?"
"Over there." It was a small, very still, cat with mostly white fur. It's eyes were small with a little bit of black fur surrounding it, and it just looked mad.
"I don't yike it," Miss C-Jaz stated as she continued to walk past the cat without even a second glance. She didn't even give the poor little cat the time of day.
"How come, Nana?" Daddy asked her, probing her little, yet potentially brilliant brain.
"What happened to it, Ganma?"
"Oh, maybe it's sad."
"Why?"
"Because, its mom left."
"Why?"
"Oh...because she went somewhere."
"Why?"
"I don't know...Mommy, why?" Ganma directed at me then whispered, "Help me!"
"Nana, maybe the cat is sad because it's lonely," I interjected with no real plan of what I was going to say next.
"Why?"
"Because everyone left it all alone for a little while."
"Why?"
"Well...today is Saturday, and it's a nice day and maybe they wanted to go out."
"Why?"
"Well...you can't really take cats outside for a walk like dogs."
"Why?" In seconds I was trying to think of how I could explain to her that many cats are considered 'indoor cats'.
"Because...cats don't BEHAVE (that what was the key word for her) when they're outside," I said patiently. That was the best thing I could think of on the spot.
"Ohhhhhhhh." Miss C-Jaz said as she let out a contemplative sigh, in chorus with Daddy. We all laughed at the sound of the light bulb that just went off in her head and Daddy's as well.
"That kind of makes sense," he said aloud.
It sounded like it made sense to her. So, her world could now continue from pause to play. She had no further questions and seemed quite satisfied with my final answer. Today is the second day that she has begun to ask every toddlers' first real comprehension question and every parents' catalyst for headaches.It's fun though and entertaining, almost like a game though I have to work to find an answer that is at least 'S' for satisfactory or 'VG' for very good.
She was contemplating a very good question. In her mind she wondered what was wrong with the cat because of the way it looks; it didn't look happy. The cat was probably an indoor cat, and if it was unhappy, this is definitely a topic that continues to be debatable, "Can indoor cats be happy?" There is one post I came across describing this topic, and it was interesting to read the possible misconceptions about the indoors lifestyle for felines.
Miss C-Jaz would definitely not be an indoor cat. She very much loves being outside. Since we've been in Sweden, anytime the weather has been nice, I take her out for an hour to four hours. Each morning last week as soon as we changed diapers and clothes, she was preparing herself for going out, "Wehr going, Mommy?" There were a couple of days when she told me she didn't want to go home yet. That will be another area to add to my list of 'Ways to Convince Her Otherwise'. But today must've been the best day for her yet. We saw amazing Nordic Wild Animals at Skansen in Djugarden, a huge outdoor museum/exhibit/park. Her favorite were the wolves as she called out to them to try and wake them from their afternoon napping and lounging. Good thing there's an electrical fence separating her from the pack of wolves. She is definitely becoming a little mischievious cat!
