String time

Dot is very strict about adhering to our schedule for play time. She will sit on the stair while E cleans up after dinner and complain loudly if I am late to our date. Over the past few weeks, she’s changed the structure of our routine, before we’d go straight to the boxes and packing paper and String would entice her to run and play there. Now we start on the stair, and she tries to catch string and see how many stairs she can go up before I say my arms are not long enough and if she wants to catch String she needs to come back down. This week, she has changed play further and aims to snag it with her claw before playing with it by herself for a few moments. However, that can only happen if I’m paying rapt attention to her; if my eyes aren’t tracking her movements, she stops and lets me know with a fierce little yowl. Last night, however, after E finished the dishes and walked by she paused when she heard his step. She then waited for him to take out his phone and photograph her. Only after he took several photos and we spoke about it did she resume her play.