"CAt!"

today when i went to get hailey from her morning nap, i opened the door to her room and she stood up in her crib. normally she just rolls around in there a few times and won't stand up for a while because she is having too much fun playing. today, she stood up and came towards me holding her black and white tiger cat in her hand and said, "cA!" aka...cat! she repeated this lifting the kitty at me. I of course wigged out, squealed, squawked, clapped, and kissed her and asked her to say it over and over again for me. to her delight, she looked up at me with the hugest grin of proud accomplishment and said loudly, "CAt!" this is esp a big word for us. as soul sistas from the time she was four months old, she has shared of my deep love for kitties. they are her favorite animal. while she loves all animals, the cat is special. when we see a bunnies and rabbits in the yard and i get all excited for her to see them, she looks nonchalantly at me like, "auntie k, its just a bunny rabbit." but, for the kitty....she explodes. she shrieks and wiggles and flails. there is a real live cat in our presence. i take her over to it carefully holding her and walking slowly to not scare the kitty away. we pause for the kitty to know, we mean no harm just love and wait for it to come to us. and then it does and i hold hailey close and let her pet the kitty for herself. when its time to leave, she doesn't want to go. how can we leave the kitty? my heart exactly. i know angel, i know. hailey is cautious and independent like me, we love dogs and every animal, but we are cats.