Cats and Kids

I've been (reasonably) thinking about what life changes having children will entail. I watch people with children, I listen to my friends, I occasionally babysit, and I try to learn what I can from these experiences. However, one of the most constant reminders of what kind of surprises I can expect is from having my kitty cats.
*Note: I know having kids will be WAY different from having cats. You cannot, for instance, heap a pile of food into a dish and then leave your children for the weekend. You cannot assume your children get adequate hydration from letting them drink out of the bathtub. I KNOW. However, I also know it would be foolish to learn nothing from my cats. So this blog entry is simply a few things I HAVE learned from my cats.
Howie and Toby are very different.
Toby is smart and well-behaved. Ever since he was young, we strictly enforced the rules. You may not be on the table or the counters. You may not scratch the couch. That's about it. We don't have a lot of rules. But whenever Toby thinks about breaking one of them, we can clap or yell "Toby" and he'll return to good behavior. Part of this is because we were more diligent when we just had the one cat. It is also because of Toby's personality and intellectual capacity.
Howie is either pretty stupid or smart enough that he knows he is above the system. He likes to get on the table. When we clap, yell at him, or punish him, he doesn't care at all. He'll hop right back onto the table once we've turned our backs. If I walk into the kitchen to find him on the table, he doesn't even care. Once I turn to him as if I'll grab him, he "hides" (which is hard to do on a kitchen table). Unfortunately, it is usually just out of reach, and if I'm sitting and eating, he knows I'm unlikely to get up to move him off the table. See, either really smart or really stupid. Either way, he doesn't follow the rules.
Cats ruin stuff-- and not the things you expect.
Howie occasionally scratches the couch. This worries me, as it is not our couch but the landlord's. However, it has done remarkably little damage.
The other day, though, Howie comes prancing into the living room (Howie prances when he goes most places) with something in his mouth. Kevin got him to spit it out, and it was one of my earrings! It's a gold teardrop hoop thingie, and now it is a gold teardrop hoop thingie with little holes indented in cat-tooth patterns. Grr! Who thought a cat would chew up my earring?!
Cleaning up barf is no fun.
Toby has been kind of sick lately (like for the last 4 days). We're treating him for hairball problems, and if he's not better by Monday, we will probably take him to the vet. It's just been a whole lot of fun cleaning up after him all this time. Thankfully we have several throw rugs around the house, and many times Toby has decided to puke on these. Fine! We wipe them off then throw them in the wash. They probably needed it anyway! My favorite so far has been when my whole family was over at my house to eat Chinese dumplings, and Toby was sleeping on top of the cat scratching tower. Then as we're sitting around the coffee table eating our dinners, Toby wakes up and projectile-vomits like a fountain from the top of his tower. It got all over everything, and it was super, super, super gross.
Anyway... doing all that laundry reminded me of all the laundry I'm going to have to do when I have kids. I just hope we get an apartment with a washer/dryer at least in our building.
Most of all, though, is that I love my kitty cats. They are sweet, soft, and cuddly.