All of us (including Lotti and Arti) have tried very hard here, since her birth, to make Josephine a cat person:
The cats didn’t really know what to think when we brought Josephine home from the hospital. They sniffed her and then decided to ignore her for some time. There was a moment, several months later, when they realized that Josephine might be useful after all. It was when she was first wriggling one of their feather-on-stick toys.
There was also the moment when Josephine first noticed Arti and Lotti and started to watch them. By now, she loves to play with Lotti using the laser pointer. And she has bonded even more with Arti. They have formed a lovely symbiosis: Josephine regularly shares some of her food (preferably mozzarella and avocado) with Arti, who waits under the table. In return, Arti allows Josephine to pet her and even grab her belly fur a little. The three also share every box we receive to play with and all other toys … baby and cat toys are quite similar after all.
Since Rich and I love our cats, we (okay, it is me, I want this) of course also hope that she will turn out to be a cat person. Really, it will not have been our fault if that goes wrong. We already got her plush cats for her birth. Since, she has received quite a few toys in cat shape (like rattles, rubber toys, more plush toys) from us and other family members. Oh, and of course books with cats. She definitely recognizes kitties in books because she points and looks at them differently. Her first birthday party was cat themed. And we just got her a tiny balance bike in kitty shape.
Still, I feel that Arti and Lotti, who are the friendliest cats ever – like they haven’t even scratched or bitten Josephine once so far -, have the biggest impact here. Even though Canavar was my spirit animal, he would have never been as amazing with a baby as our two cat ladies … The only thing that I don’t understand is why Josephine squeals a little at every tiny, fluffy dog we pass on the street … or does she regard those as a kind of cat?
Some of our and Josephine’s favorite “cat toys”:
P.s. While I love to write longer blog posts, I feel that I don’t find enough time to these days. After some contemplation, I think I will try to post shorter texts, but more regularly.
If you ask me, you do not need to worry at all! Your daughter will not just become a cat person, but surely she will love all animals. At my home it was more difficult to make our cat become a “kid person”. She needed almost 8 years for that. 😉