I hate it when that happens

This is the rare and exotic 3-footed cat. Phenom and I cannot agree on her name. I call her Peg, for obvious reasons. Phenom calls her Tufts for the little sprigs of hair on the tops of her ears. She is a constant begger. At meal time, she would try every trick she could come up with to get to our plates. Shaking, and squirting, her with the squirt bottle did nothing to convince her to stop. Finally, we have had to resort to putting her in "time out" or the bathroom. As I dished up dinner, Phenom would whisk her into the bathroom because it was just too miserable to try to eat with her around. After a year and a half, she finally learned. She learned that she'll get treats when I'm in the kitchen, but not while we're eating. She was stubborn, but finally she could be left out during meal times.

That was until a couple of weeks ago. While I was off seeing my boys (Tony and Eric), Phenom fed her half of his chicken from his dinner plate. SPOILED her in the truest sense of the world. Because now she is back to attacking our dinner plates from any angle she can manage. And, she's back to being put in time out during meals.

I was getting to be the "responsible" parent by pointing out how Phenom's folly has translated into Peg being put back in her behavior. Everytime we put Peg back in the bathroom, I have loudly explained to her that it's Phenom's fault.

Then, this weekend, I killed my status as the responsible parent. I let Everest stay in the bedroom all day on Saturday. I shouldn't have. Everest now believes he should be in the bedroom all the time. And, at 3am this morning, he spent 30 minutes banging on the bedroom door. And again at 6am. And, at 8:30. And, then I let him stay in the bedroom all day today too.

Not only do I lose all credibility as the adult in our house, but I'll have many more nights of being awakened by an angry small cat banging non-stop on the door. sigh.