I did not leave the house at all this weekend. I’ve been really tired and haven’t gotten solid sleep for the past several weeks, maybe 6 weeks or so. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I felt really refreshed upon waking up. I certainly wish I could sleep as often and as soundly as our kittens. The recent rains have not been helping.  For once, I did what I professed to my coworkers on Friday that I would do, which was rest for most of the weekend. It’s a good thing that I did too because I’m not sure that I would have appreciated an exchange between my children that I haven’t seen in a long time. It absolutely warmed my heart.

My idea of resting may not be someone else’s idea, but not leaving the house was a big step. I did do my Saturday morning ritual of kitchen/dining room cleaning. Cleaning doesn’t appear to do much for resting, but it makes me feel better mentally and is the necessary pre-work prior to resting (at least think so). I also prepped meals, cooked and supervised (constantly barking orders to stay on task) my kids cleaning their rooms. Aside from all of that, I lounged around, watched a few of my cooking shows and a couple of movies on Amazon Prime. This is rare, but I didn’t even go to church today. I said my prayers as usual, asked God for forgiveness and made peace that I was doing what I needed to do.

I tend to have lofty goals and there were some things that I wanted to do such as write a few blog posts, wash my daughter’s hair (an activity that takes several hours), and even catch up on work. I’ll be happy if I publish this one post on this Sunday. 

We’ve enjoyed our kittens for over a month now although one of them is not consistent with using the litter box. He still poops on the floor most of the time, but he will use the litter box to pee. Today, he decided to pee on the floor…next to the litter box. I was just about to do 20 minutes of stretching (it was 7pm), but once I saw him step in the pee, that was the last straw.  I decided that it was time for the kids and I to give both kittens baths in the tub.  Well, that turned out to be an experience that I never expected and won’t soon forget.

My kids were so excited about the bath.  One thing we discovered is that both cats were covered in fleas. The kittens were not happy about the water as can be imagined, but sadly we had to bathe them twice because they had so many fleas. The kids alternated between laughter, empathy, and shock as we tried to wrestle with them. In the midst of it all, I googled how to naturally kill fleas. This resulted in the second bath. I didn’t have a flea comb or flea medication and I wasn’t about to go to the store this late, so I reluctantly used my good pair of tweezers. 

It turns out that my son (age 15) was so patient and gentle with the kittens and I learned that he has a really steady hand. My daughter (age 11) was not as steady, and she wanted to leave after a while because it got “boring”, but I was so pleased by their overall behavior. What I saw after I stepped away for a few minutes was how well they worked together. My daughter held the cat, while my son pulled off the fleas one by one. I haven’t seen them work cooperatively in a long time, and quite frankly, I didn’t think I would see that any time soon. The three of us worked together and it felt so good not yelling at my kids for various reasons. I tried to get my husband involved, but he didn’t want any part of it. He did hold the kittens during the blow dry. They didn’t like that either. 

By the time we were done with the baths, the tub was filled with fleas and about an hour of my life washed down the drain along with them, but I was so grateful for having that small experience with my kids. I look forward to having this memory to share with them. I hope they remember it too.

As far as the kittens, I gave them a final night hug (even though they tried to run away from me) and some food. Hopefully, they’ll sleep it off just as I plan to do.