A few weeks after we moved into our home, we got a very adorable visitor. He arrived, meowing at our front door......honest to God!!! I have a witness to prove it and it's a very sweet story so please let me share.
Lou receives weekly speech and developmental therapy in our home because of a minor language delay. Our therapist, Kim was here doing her normal therapy routines with Lou on this particular day. We were suddenly interrupted by the muffled sounds of meowing coming from our front door, so I went to investigate. As I opened the door, a small and fuzzy orange kitten walked right in my house. He was too adorable for words and since he seemed friendly, I gave him some warm milk and a can of tuna as Kim tried to re-focus Lou's attention to therapy. Kim had been trying to teach Lou some positional phrases like, "on top" and "underneath" using some pegs and a foam board.........but Lou was just too interested in this new creature to pay any mind to the lesson. So by the time Kim packed up her bag and was getting ready to leave, the kitten was exploring my living room quite playfully, with Lou right on his heels. As the kitten clawed his way up to the top of my sofa, Lou excitedly points to the cat and exclaims, "kitty on top sofa"!!!
Kim and I just stared at each other in amazement as we realized that a very soft and fuzzy "learning tool" had presented himself that day. Lou was so excited to be that close to a kitten that he followed him around babbling all about what the kitty was doing. We talked about everywhere the kitty went, "underneath" the bed, "behind" the TV, "next to" the table....etc. It was our greatest therapy day ever!!
After some compromising with my husband, we worked out a deal so that we could keep Lou's new best friend. He was named Plato Ponzini, to both honor our beloved cat, Socrates, who had disappeared months before this, and to memoralize that in the world of Greek philosophers, Plato was Socrates' successor........not to mention, that his life's emphasis was on education!!
Here are pictures of my favorite therapy tool on the day of his arrival. He honestly came right in and made himself at home, as you can see!!
Lou was a bit upset the day we had to his kitty to the vet for the first time. This is a picture of them on the way back home after being reunited:
You've got to have a special place in your heart for a cat who will actually keep up, play along and be affectionate with a very active 3 year old little boy!! They are definately best buddies and I've never known a cat to be so fearless.
