The War At Home

From my previous post, we may all have suspected that this would occur. I certainly did.

It all started small and innocuously, even sort of sweetly. Yesterday, Boy claimed to have a tummy ache and asked to stay home from camp. Of course, his tummy ache immediately cured itself the moment the babysitter obeyed his repeated requests to take him from his mother's house to ours--or, shall I say, the moment he had Maud in his arms. Where she remained, I imagine, for the majority of the day (Girl isn't quite comfortable with Maud, and will pet her occasionally, but tends to shy away).

Now, since this wasn't school he was skipping out on, and since it meant Maud wouldn't be left alone all day, I was all over this action. I became less enamored with it, however, when I returned home.

Cordelia: How's Maud doing? Did you guys have a good time today?
Boy: She loves me. All she wants to do is be held by me. She slept in my arms for an hour today. Can we watch tv? Maud loves to fall asleep while watching tv.
Cordelia: Not right now. Can I hold her?
Boy: (generously) Sure. It's so wonderful that we have a sweet little kitten! You know, my arms are her personal bed and salt lick.
Cordelia: All of us are.
Boy: Yeah, but my arms are her personal bed and salt lick. Dad agrees with me. Can I hold her again?
(Continue ad nauseaum)

Grrr. Grrrrrr. We are mere steps away from "Since she loves me best, and since I spend the most time holding her, don't you think she should just be my cat?"

Okay, so the sane, calm part of me knows that a) this was inevitable, and b) it really doesn't matter, since she does live with all of us, and this whole thing is going on entirely without Maud's participation or knowledge, as she just wants to love and be loved and frankly owning a cat is quite impossible.

But the other part of me says that it's only been two days!! What's going to happen by the time my birthday comes along? Will my relationship with my birthday present be reduced to "Hey Boy, would it be okay with you if I pet Hermione?"