7.10.2008

T13 #3 - Baby Praline Memory Lane

I bet you are on Baby Praline overload this week. Mom has just been obsessed with transferring my baby pictures to digital format so she won't lose them (Now I just need to remind her to back up her hard drive!). For today's T13, we will share picture from my first month with Mom back in 1995. Tomorrow, we will complete the Baby Praline picture week with a then and now shot of Mom and me.



1. Playing with my two favorite toys as a kitten: a shoe string and a stick with feathers and string. I wonder where these went.

2. Helping Mom with the filing. She tends to be a Type A personality (how does she ever live with a cat?) and likes to keep things in order. Unfortunately, her filing is a lot larger now.


3. Snow! We live in South Carolina, so we rarely see snow. My first three years with Mom, we lived in Clemson, SC, which is in the western corner of SC and borders SC, NC, and GA. We actually had snow my first winter with Mom! She took me outside, but I quickly ran back inside because it was too cold and wet!


4. Eating! I tended to be a messy eater! Just look at all of that food on the floor. Mom says I am still a little messy. I like to call it picky. Every cat knows that each piece of food tastes a little different.


5. Talking to Mom. I am half Himmie and everyone knows that Himmies have some Meezer in them, so it is only natural that we like to talk. I developed a very special vocabulary for my Mom in my early years. She knows which meows mean, "MOM", "I'm hungry", "I'm scared", "Hello", etc.


6. Visiting my human grandparents. While Mom was in graduate school at Clemson, she rented out her house in Columbia, SC, so we had to stay with her parents when she would go home for the weekend. I traveled almost every weekend with my mom until I had surgery to get "fixed" at about 6 months of age and then I started staying home. About the only time I get in the car now is to go to the V.E.T. I don't really like to travel now.


7. Playing with balls! My human grandparents bought me this neat toy that was round and had a ball inside of it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get that ball out! I think my Mom eventually stepped on it and broke it (is was an accident, of course!).


8. Visiting my human aunt and cousins. I enjoyed exploring my mom's sister's house when we went on our first trip. She had hard-wood floors all over the place. It was so much fun to take off running and then try to stop and slide completely across the room.


9. Kissing my Mom! This is one of the reasons my Mom fell in love with me. I actually kissed her in the pet store. My favorite place to kiss her in on her chin. Even though I am a little heavier now, she still picks me up the same way and I welcome her home every day with a kiss on her chin! (Hey Mom, that sure is a weird hairstyle!)


10. Big eyes! My human nephews called me Gizmo (from Gremlins), my human grandmother calls me the Owl Cat, and my Mom calls me Baby Girl. One of the problems Persians have is with their tear ducts, so we tend to have these dark splotches under my eyes. Mom is doing a lot better with keeping me clean now, but this is one of those "bad days" of eye stains.


11. First Christmas present. This was my first stuffed animal that was actually given to me. My mom's grandmother picked it out for me and it was my favorite gift for a long time. Ma Ma Gregg went to the Human Bridge two weeks before Christmas, so this toy was very special to both Mom and me.


12. Me and My String. I could never get enough of that silly shoe string! I think I took it wherever I went. Hey Mom, don't you think you should clean up a little bit?


13. Living the College Life. Even though mom was 40 years old when she went to graduate school, her apartment began looking like a typical college student's dorm! Of course, all of my toys didn't help too much. My favorite game was to take a flying leap towards a pile of papers that mom put on the floor (either to grade or to read for research) and see just how far I could spread them out! Now, I just lie down on the papers to keep her from work on them. She spent an awful lot of time at the computer, so I used to jump up and walk all over the keyboard, her papers, swish the pencils off the table, and just meow to distract her. I still do this as she is helping me with the blogs.

Thanks for being patient with us as we traveled down memory lane. All of these pictures are from my first three months with Mom. We lived in this 3-room apartment for three years in Clemson until Mom received her PhD in Mathematics Education. Our first move was to Spartanburg, SC, where Mom got her first job at Converse College as a professor. We then moved to Aiken, SC, where mom was a professor at the University of South Carolina - Aiken and then Mom finally moved back into her house in Columbia, where we have lived for the past five years!

20 comments:

Lux said...

Those are such cute pictures of you; I'm glad your mom is sharing!

MaoMao said...

We Ballicai are enjoyin yur walk down memory lane! You were such a preshus little kitten gurl. And I know ecksacktly what you mean when you say each piece of foodie tastes diffrunt! I've noticed that, too.

Kittyhugs and purrs from MaoMao!

Missiku Whitey said...

You are so cute :D
And what a beautiful eyes!!
*hug*

Dragonheart, Merlin, Devi, and Chloe said...

Those are wonderful photos of you, Praline! :) You were an adorable baby kitten! :)

Anonymous said...

You were such a precious kitten! We're enjoying the trip down memory lane!

Hooray for your Mom! Our auntie didn't start college until her two sons graduated from college. Auntie graduated at 51 and is now an RN!

The Meezers or Billy said...

awww Praline, you was so cute. and now you're a beautiful lady cat!

Teddy Westlife said...

You are lucky to have such a great mum! And you were so adorable when you were a kitten!

Huffle Mawson

Ana said...

Oh yes, shoe strings are too much fun to play with. And somehow I also have a messy eater in home :-) These are such wonderful pictures and great memories. We are glad your mom found her old pictures!

Sabrina, Sam and Simon said...

We could NEVER suffer from a Baby Praline overload ... your baby pictures are just adorable! It is so cool to see them! Especially the picture of you kissing your Mom, our Momma went aaaawwwwwww when she saw that one! I kiss my Momma all of the time too, so we have that in common! You really do have our Momma thinking about scanning in our baby pictures after seeing yours!
Purrs and headbutts,
Sabrina

ZOOLATRY said...

Love it all, LOVE IT ALL. Zoey gets the messy-eyes, too... and she has one of her "big eyes" pictures posted today. Aren't the himmies absolutely special. We had to get haircuts again (and we'll share that story in a few days)... you are sooooooooo lucky you can keep your lovely long furs.

Tybalt said...

Praline, you are such a precious little girl! I don't think I can ever see enough of your sweet baby pictures. Your mom is great to have gone back to school and get her PhD and become a professor! I should get my mommy to do that, but I think she is far too lazy.

jenianddean said...

We've really enjoyed the trip down memory lane. I like to knock the pens off the desk too. And that string looks like a lot of fun. But why do the best toys always get stepped on?
--Jasper

Goldie, Shade and Banshee said...

What a sweet post! You were (and still are) a little heartbreaker!

purrs, Shade and Goldie

PB 'n J said...

Oh you were (and are) soo very cute - Mommy is in love!

The Misadventures Of Me said...

You were a furry cute kit! The baby woofie Jake gets tear stains sometimes too.

Laila and Angel Minchie said...

Once again we so enjoyed your trip down memory lane. It is so true about Himmie's being very vocal! My sister "who came before me" was very demanding of mom and vocalized it every chance she could.

Laila and Minchie

Pattyskypants said...

Oh Sweet P, U R so CUUTE!!! U STILL supah cute. Me LUV U!! Bhu

Zippy, Sadie, Speedy and M'Gee said...

Sheesh, mom's sitting her saying silly stuff like "sqeee, lookit da cutie puff"...it's embarassing. We have to say tho, yoo are a cutie puff.

Sweet Purrfections said...

A special thank you for all of your kind comments this week. Mom says this was a lot of work, especially with it being her first day back at work after her surgery. I kind of think she enjoyed going down memory lane.

Praline

Ginger The Cat said...

What great pictures!!! Praline, you are one very cool looking cat; so beautiful!