We had a "first contact" this morning.

My baby Amelia jumped up on my shoulder as soon as I emerged from the shower, just as she always does. She groomed my hair while I shaved, just like she always does. Then she looked into the makeup mirror.

Nancy has a magnifying makeup mirror on the side wall, at right angles to the mirror over the sink. As I shave it's 6" to 1 foot from Amelia's nose. She's played with the bright green frame before, and she's seen the kitty in the mirror a couple of times before, but has never paid it much attention.

This morning, though, she decided that the kitty in the mirror warranted some investigation. Amelia reached out one fuzzy paw to the kitty in the mirror, but instead of touching the frame like usual she tried to touch the reflected kitty. This time, the kitty touched back! When her paw got close to the mirror kitty, the mirror kitty's paw got close to hers. But the mirror kitty's paw was a LOT BIGGER (remember, it's a magnifying mirror).

Amelia left her paw touching the mirror cat's paw for a few seconds, then slowly withdrew her paw and laid her head down on my shoulder. She then pointedly ignored the mirror for the rest of the morning. It appeared that she was deep in thought. As if she was thinking "that kitty in the green ring doesn't seem hostile, but she sure is big!". She was kind of subdued until we left the bathroom.

It will be interesting to see whether we attempt to communicate with the mirror kitty again tomorrow.

Copyright © Dan Mahoney
April 10, 2003