random thoughts – Day 1,898 – (Wednesday) –progress

Kiki posing on the bed.

Kiki is being extra cute lately and I’m all for it. When she is laying on the bed, shedding all over the black throw she has come to call her own, and I walk into the bedroom, she no longer slinks off the bed like a ninja and hides. She remains in place and lets me approach and stroke her silky face.

When I’m in bed, she will sit in the doorway and stare in my general direction. If I call her, she’ll come to the side of the bed and let me pet her before she flops over onto her side and stretches with her belly facing me, but just beyond my reach, a distance she has gauged with the precision of an engineer.

She still won’t sit on the couch and has no interest in my lap. Yet. She will sit nearby on the rug, or in the doorway of the room I’m in, often looking my way. If she wants attention, she will emit a little yelp of a meow and I will say "come here." She approaches so I can reach down to pet her. 

Tonight, there was a new nuance to our little routine. Kiki was letting me stroke her from her head the tip of her tail. I rubbed her hips and she raised her butt and tail into the air before plopping down onto her side and showing me her white belly. And then, for the first time I can recall, and possibly the first time ever, she let me rub her belly. She didn't recoil and then run away like she used to do. She remained in her sprawled pose for a few seconds and I rubbed her belly, stopping before she had a chance to decide she didn’t like it anymore. Progress!