Jasper's reprieve

Jasper got to enjoy a nice long, supervised collar-free time tonight. He ate, groomed himself on the bed, took a nap on the bed, groomed himself in his favorite windowsill, and relaxed. Sadly, it will have to go back on until his supervised free time tomorrow. My poor little guy!

L & I are working on new bedtime book. I really like when she doesn’t have a book ready and I get to pick it! This is the third book in a row she has let me select, and I love it! I was trying to decide between Kafka and Dostoevsky this time. I went with Kafka, because I think we will enjoy Dostoevsky more when her brain is a little more ready to handle more of the complexities and subtleties in a year or so, which will make it much more fun for both of us. We are working on Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, which is a very trippy work. It’s been so many years since I read it, that I was a little concerned that it may start out too slowly and then I would lose her. I know that it’s critical for her to be drawn into the book, especially the classics. Some of them really require a lot of boring foundational material before they get off the ground, and then by the time the book gets really interesting to her, she has already mentally checked out. I was thrilled to see that Kafka jumps right into the matter at hand on the first page, so she was enthralled right away.

As I was typing the above, it just occurred to me that she is probably ready to get into another one of my faves, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, after we finish Kafka. I’m sure she will enjoy the book immensely, at the very least, at a literary level. I’m not sure she is able to appreciate all of the deeper themes of the book, but I do think she will get a good portion of it and we can have fun philosophical discussions based on the book. While I love the book, it is very sad and usually makes me cry. She will enjoy mocking me for that.

Growing up, we were constantly amused by my mother’s propensity to weep for no apparent reason. It was completely incomprehensible to my brother and I how the woman could cry at commercials, Disney movies, happy occasions… absolutely anything! I still don’t understand it, yet I have now become THAT person, and my inexplicable weepiness now entertains and puzzles my children. It irritates me that it’s illogical and seemingly beyond my control! I still don't know how it happened!