1.13.2010

I love him, but...

I think I'm going to have to kill Atticus.

For the past few (several??) weeks, he's been waking up about an hour before my alarm goes off, ready to eat. I do my best to ignore him, but let me paint you a little picture of my mornings lately:

Hubs and I are sound asleep, enjoying our last precious minutes of dreamtime. It is 5:00 a.m. I am suddenly awakened by the sound of loud purring and the sensation of kitty breath on my face. My eyes start to open and I see two giant green eyes staring back at me in the darkness. It occurs to me that the alarm has yet to go off, so I close my eyes quickly hoping that Atticus didn't notice I'm actually awake. He did. He sniffs my face and I roll over, hoping to knock him back to the floor in the process. He walks over me. I choose to ignore this. He creeps up to my face again and crouches down with his nose inches from mine. I squeeze my eyes shut and try not to move. Eventually he gives up and jumps back down to the floor, where he lets out a couple parting meows that echo off the wood floors and plaster walls.

Two minutes later, just as I'm beginning to doze off again, Atticus starts the routine all over again. He jumps up on the bed, sticks his nose in my face with a loud purr, waits for me to ignore him and jumps back down. This goes on for the next 45 minutes until the alarm goes off. Occasionally he takes a break to play with a stray piece of carpet on the rug, a string, or just to tear around the house for a few minutes.

The key is for us humans to be as still as possible and under no circumstances talk to him. Once Atticus is SURE one of us is awake, he doubles his efforts to get us out of bed. If we pretend well enough that we are actually asleep, sometimes, once in a great while, he'll give up altogether and go back to sleep until the alarm goes off.

That didn't happen today and I got not a wink of sleep after the initial wake-up call.

I don't know how to fix this behavior! If I leave the bedroom door closed he will scratch at it incessantly until we let him in (he MUST have free access to all rooms that we are occupying. He's a people person). It's not only horribly irritating but it damages the paint too. If I give him a self-feeding food dish, he will eat all day and night and we'll have to rename him Porky. I am taking suggestions!

7 comments:

Emily said...

This is so funny (only b/c it's not happening to me, of course). I think you are doing the right think by ignoring him. My dog tries to play this game everyone once in a while, and ignoring is the best option. Would you be able to feed him and then go back to sleep? This wouldn't work for me, but some people can fall back to sleep right away! Good Luck! Don't kill Atticus!!!

MotherHen said...

Spray bottle by the bed!

Kate said...

I have no suggestions, but I get a little chuckle out of the thought of kitty breath on your face and him doubling his efforts once he knows you're awake... and some people don't think they have emotions and/or intelligence!! Good luck!

Christina said...

I'm not sure what you could do since I know that cats are pretty smart and sneaky. I had one that my parents got me when I was 5 years old and I had her until I was 20 and I never once slept in because she did the same exact thing to me! 15 years of it! That's why I refuse to own a cat now.

Misty Dawn said...

this used to happen to me until DH kicked my cats out of the bdrm. I on the other hand love it and think that its great parent training to have such loving kitties!! Now we've even resorted to shutting them in their bedroom. Then that wasn't enough b/c they would bang on the door incessantly. Then we inserted a washcloth so the door wouldn't rattle. Which = BLISS & SLEEP!!! Since my cats are declawed front and rear I don't have to worry about them shredding the door. :) I'd give anything to sleep with them again tho. :( They miss their mommy!

Heather said...

Ugh, it sounds like your cat and our new puppy are the same animal. My husband sets the alarm for 7, and then it's like all systems go. Zak is a tiny dog and he runs all over the bed and licks my face a million times.

Unknown said...

I don't have any suggestions right now, just wanted to say HAHAHAHA!!!!