At some point each morning between dawn and when the first curly blond head peeps beneath the blanket, one of my feline masters takes up residence upon the part of my body which juts highest above the landscape of tousled bedding — usually the shoulder — bringing to mind goats congregating on the hoods of cars*, inexplicably, implacably, irrationally. If one finds the other so perched a tussle ensues; I’m likely to be dragged out of sleep by the digging of claws into my side or the beating of a tail back and forth across my nose.
Lately I’ve woken up not only to cats occupying my space but also children. We’re on Round Two, Week Two of The Season of Interminable Illnesses, wherein each day a different child winds up in my bed at some point during the night because they are so bleedin’ miserable. “Are we all feeling better?” I ask at lights-out. They all sleepily nod. “Can we all stay in our beds tonight?” They nod again, but with shifty eyes. More than once I’ve slid into bed at midnight (or one a.m., or two a.m.) bleary-eyed from immoderate reading** only to jump back in shock at finding a body where I expected none.
Ten years into motherhood and I still have no idea how such small bodies can so effectively dominate my bed. Like puddles, surf or brownie batter, if you push them aside they simply flow back into place. I’ve woken up with a scalding child wedged against me — and the aforementioned goat-like cat perched up top — nearly every day over the past two weeks.
Goat-like cats and never-endingly sick kids? Yep, they’re seriously cutting into my sleep***.
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*Circe, weren’t you having goats-on-cars issues too?
**I’m enjoying this series way seriously much. Fantasy is not usually my favorite genre but this is really fun.
***I mean, I can’t see anything else that could be interfering with it. Right?
If you’re looking for a good fantasy series, try George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series (first book: “A Game of Thrones”). Brilliant stuff.
Oh thank you. I’ll look for them!
am on my third read of Patrick Rothfuss’ Name of the Wind. which is to say, i am on my third starting over at the beginning when i’ve finished it. again. can’t say i’ve ever done that with a book before. it’s just that good.
sorry for the sick kids/territorial cat sleep interruptions. you have my sincerest sympathies there.
Cats have an entertaining (or not so entertaining) ability to increase their personal gravity by about seventy times when they are sleeping. Usually when sleeping on top of you. I guess children could be similar. I wish you luck in recapturing your sleep.
– PB
My resident felines have the same gravitational anomaly. When I’m racked out in the recliner, one likes to stretch out on my legs and the other curls up on my chest (all 12lbs of him). I watch a lot of forensic-based TV shows and now I know what they mean by compression asphyxia. They also exhibit the same goat-like behavior as AAG’s, not just in bed. Their feet feel like weighted spikes.
Yeah. I no sooner get my car through the farm gate than three or four goats leap up to the hood, the roof, the back of my car. It’s insane. They’re skidding around on their little cloven hooves as I carefully, carefully ascend the hill (all the while fantasizing about suddenly speeding up and sending them flying off the car). It must look amazingly ridiculous and I wish I had a picture of my yellow slugbug covered in goats as I grimly try to get up to my home.
***
Hope you feel better. I’m suddenly sick, too. I’m reasonably convinced that it’s the caprine flu.
It’s a ride. Every day is a day at the carnival for your goats. :)
That series sounds really good. I’ll be looking into it. Hope everyone gets to feeling better soon and that the cats resume cat-like behavior quickly!