Neechy

Last Thursday morning, March 27, 2008, our long-time friend and feline companion passed away. He was 17 years old. I've said that I wanted to use this blog to record the things that I wanted to remember. When it comes to Neechy's death, at first I thought the blog was not the appropriate place because it's a really sad day for all of us. Then I realized that what I want to remember is how much joy Neechy brought to our family. The blog is a perfect place to put some of the stories of Neechy and remember him that way.

Back in 1990, Neechy was first owned by a college friend, Ellen who used to go running with Neechy. When she graduated, she gave Neechy to a bunch of fraternity guys that lived in an apartment close to us. As the story goes, Bob and I saw this beautiful cat walking down the street and upon inspection found out he didn't have front claws, so did not belong outside. We brought him in and then heard his meow -- he had a very unique meow that Ellen demonstrated while visiting with her kitten before she graduated. Realizing this could possibly be Ellen's cat, we called around to see where Ellen went after graduating and what she did with the cat! That's when we found out about the fraternity guys. Well, they were not doing a good job of taking care of Neechy so we took him in. Thus Neechy came with the name.

Ellen named him after Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher of the late 19th century who challenged the foundations of Christianity and traditional morality. So he wasn't a very popular guy and had quotes like "God is dead." Someone recently pointed out to me that we did not change his name when we took Neechy in ... good point, the name fit the cat.

We had Kenzy at the time that Neechy joined our clan. Kenzy was a big beautiful Himalayan-looking farm cat. At first Kenzy and Neechy did not get along, because Neechy had way too many hormones for his own good. After getting Neechy fixed, he calmed down a lot but it still took years for Kenzy and Neechy to bond. However, once they were bonded, they were the best of buds. When Kenzy passed away in 1996, Neechy was very depressed and put on 5 extra pounds. This was huge considering that Neechy was 13 pounds to begin with.

Neechy was a very smart cat. He was too smart to fall for the flashlight trick like Kenzy always did. Neechy would just stare at the flashlight as if to say, "yeah, so what." Kenzy would chase Bob around the apartment in a big circle. Not Neechy ... he would go around once then turn around and meet Bob going the opposite direction. Then there was the time that Bob was playing hide and seek with the cats -- Bob is really a kid at heart. Bob was in the bathroom waiting for Neechy to come looking for him. He looked up at the mirror and there was Neechy just staring in the mirror. He was caught!

When Colin was born, Neechy was not too fond of this event as can be imagined. Especially when Colin peed on him! It was an accident but try telling a cat that. We were changing Colin on the bed next to where Neechy was sleeping. Colin was only a couple weeks old (if that), and new parents plus little boys equals golden showers. In this case, the cat got the majority of it and was not happy.


Over time, Neechy accepted Colin's existence and was very tolerant to him. I remember on time Colin was pointed to Neechy and saying "Wide, wide". We thought he was calling the cat "wide" which is true enough, but I couldn't figure it out because "wide" was not part of Colin's vocabulary. Of course it wasn't "wide", he was saying as he tried to climb on Neechy's back, but "ride"!


And just recently, the relationship between Colin and Neechy really improved and they have bonded as children and pets do. Colin would lay his head on Neechy, and Neechy would just purr and purr.

On Thursday morning, Neechy was having difficulty breathing so Bob and I took him into the vet after dropping Colin off at school. Before going into the school, we let Colin say "good-bye" to Neechy, thinking that it didn't look good for Neechy to get better. At the time Colin didn't understand and went off to school with a smile.

At the vet, Neechy stopped breathing, and the doctor brought him back. Bob and I decided that we didn't want to prolong his agony anymore, so if he stopped again to just let him go, that it was his time. At noon, we got the phone call that Neechy stopped breathing again.

Colin now understands a little more and is very sad. He keeps asking for him, and all I can say is "I miss him too".

From my Aunt Deirdre:
"Small friend, in the name of the Giver of Life, I bid you to forget
your broken shell. It can serve you no longer. I bid you in the name
of the Creator of all things wild and free, to go beyond, to rest, to
enjoy the Summerland. Blessed be, small friend, and farewell."

Nathan and Neechy


Last Halloween

Park playdate

Springvale Park was the destination for a playdate with a boy in Colin's class. Edward is a really sweet little boy and has a little sister that is about one year younger than Nathan named Tuesday.

Even though the park has a playground, after 10 minutes on the swings and playground equipment, everyone ended up playing the majority of the time around the pond. Nathan really took to Edward's little sister Tuesday and gave her a big hug and kiss! It was so sweet even if she didn't appreciate it (she almost got knocked down by the kiss).

Then Nathan stepped in a great big muddy hole near the pond. I'm surprised that he didn't lose his croc in there!

Two dogs

A couple weeks ago, Bob took Colin and Nathan to Omaha for a boys trip while I went on a scrapbooking retreat -- I know, I really know how to live on the edge!

At Grandma and Grandpa GG's house, they have a little dog, Gigi (what a coincidence, huh?). Side note, GG stands for Godberson and Godberson, which is where the dog's name comes from, even though the dog is a poodle and Gigi is a perfect poodle name. And "my" Grandma and Grandpa (my Dad's parents) were called Grandma and Grandpa G. So GG is good for me, because G was already taken. I digress though.

So at Grandma and Grandpa GG's house, there is usually only one dog, Gigi; however, when my sister comes to visit, she brings her little dog, Frankie. When Nathan came in the house and saw two dogs, he said "Two dogs!". This just impressed the heck out of the grandparents because the previous day there was only one dog and Nathan didn't say anything about the dog.

Nathan also does this little hand gesture where he holds up one finger on each hand and moves his hands back and forth. It's Nathan's trademark for two, whatever he is counting.

Of course if there are three dogs, Nathan still says "two dogs". Hasn't quite grasp the concept of three yet.

No more pacifiers

Bob did it! I'm so happy. While Bob was in Omaha last weekend for their "boys trip", he managed to wean Nathan off of the pacifier. I guess Nathan didn't even ask for it. So Bob never gave it to him! So when they returned home, I put Nathan to bed that first night, Nathan pointed to where we kept the pacifiers and asked for it (by saying "tee tee" or whatever it is that he says), and I calmly told him no and that he was a big boy and didn't need pacifiers anymore. Also that if he didn't need it in Omaha, that he didn't need it here as well. Thankfully Nathan didn't put up too much of a fight and went to bed without the pacifier! I don't think he has asked for it since either.

Now all that's left is potty training. Bob and I are thinking sometime this summer.

Goodbye crib

It's official, the baby factory is closed. I just sold the crib on craigslist and am a little sad about it. It was a gorgeous crib. My mom found it at a garage sale in Omaha and trucked it all the way down to Georgia to us. At the time I was a little put off that I didn't get to pick out the crib but after putting it together ... it's a beautiful, four-poster, canopy crib with dark wood, I managed to forgive her. And I did get to pick out the bedding, a soft, neutral, multi-textured cream/ecru color that would go with boy or girl. I used the bed skirt for the canopy and got another simple bedskirt to go on the bottom.

So a little walk down memory lane. Colin used the crib first. However, he was four months old before we put him in it. I broke my ankle when he was two months old and still in the bassinet. It took me two months to heal enough to do the stairs up to the baby's room, so Colin stayed in the bassinet a little longer than he should have! Colin loved the crib. The transition to the big boy bed from the crib was a little rocky and took some time. And Colin never climbed out of the crib.

Nathan on the other hand, started climbing out of the crib after this past Christmas. First Nathan climbed out of the pack-n-play in Omaha, then when we returned to Atlanta he climbed out of the crib twice. That was enough to convince us that he preferred to sleep in the big boy bed, and we stopped putting him in the crib.

So the crib sat in Nathan's room for the last three months before I finally decided to list it on craiglist. I sold it with all the bedding and mattress too. The person that bought it lives in Florida, and her daughter in Atlanta is having a baby. So the crib is going to be used at Grandma's house.

As a side note, when the woman came to buy the crib, she brought a big trailer, so the crib could be transported intact and not have to be taken apart. This meant getting it down stairs with just her and me. It's a good thing that I've been going to bootcamp, because we got that crib down the stairs all by ourselves! I took the down hill end (and heavy end) and really used those new muscles of mine to do it.

Nathan didn't even notice. Well, he noticed something was different in his room because now he has all this space. Colin and Nathan love all the space to run around. But I don't think they realized what was missing.

So goodbye crib, I'm glad it's going to a good home and being used. It's just too pretty to be put into storage until it could be used again in our family.

Dip, dip, dip

Nathan is on the fast-track to becoming a condiment junkie like his dad. Always has to dip his food into something. Although when Nathan wants to dip, he says "dip, dip, dip" while pantomiming the action.

At Moe's we get this vinaigrette that I pour on my taco (I guess I'm a little of a condiment junkie too) and we all use it on our chips. The kids get chocolate chip cookies with their meals, and recently Nathan has started dipping his chocolate chip cookie into the vinaigrette!! Yuck! He really seems to like it. I just can't even image ...

Thinking outside the box

Twice today Colin did a really good job of coming up with alternate solutions to a problem. I'm so proud!

This morning, Bob did a 9-mile run so the rule in our house is that the person who runs the most gets to pick where we go eat. Colin wanted to go to Moe's, and fortunately that was okay with Bob. But Colin wanted to walk to Moe's. Bob's no slouch but after 9 miles, he really didn't feel like walking almost a mile to Moe's. We tried to explain that to Colin. And you know what Colin came up with ... Mom and him could walk, and Dad and Nathan could drive! I thought that was brilliant! So Colin and I walked to Moe's.

Switch gears to dinner time ... Nathan has this thing like most little brothers, that anything that big brother has, he has to have. At dinner, Colin wanted a glass of water, so I got him a glass. Then Nathan wanted a glass. Well, we were out of glasses so I gave him a plastic sippy cup with water. He wasn't happy with this and was causing quite a scene. I was explaining to Nathan that all the glasses were dirty. Then Colin says that he will drink his water out of a plastic sippy cup so Nathan will be happy. I didn't even think of this solution. Again I was so proud of Colin's ability to think outside the box to solve a problem.

"Move bed"

Nathan has really done a great job of using his words and talking more and more (no speech therapy needed here - thank you very much!) He was in the master bedroom with a motorized truck that goes when you push a button. Nathan makes it go under our bed and it stops in the middle of the bed at one of the supports. He looks up, pulls on the bed and says "move bed"! Our bed is a king with a super huge headboard, and very heavy. I didn't move the bed, but just crawled under to get the truck.

Sleeping with his eyes open

Last week, the nanny was putting Colin to bed while Bob and I were out. Colin wanted to stay up until we got home, but decided that he was going to sleep with his eyes open so that he would know when we got home.