Love of Cats

Sophie has never been that interested in dolls. She has been given dolls throughout the years and they mostly sit on the shelf. She has even requested certain dolls at times. She really wanted an Alice in Wonderland doll a number of years ago and last year she finally got an American Girl doll. The Alice doll came with a little Cheshire cat and I have to say I think the Cheshire cat gets more play time than Alice ever did. When her American Girl comes out to play she is usually riding a horse or taking care of her pet animals. I know she has a little dog and cat that are designated has her specific pets.  Sophie has always preferred to play with animals. Her favorite animal is of course the cat. 

The last few weeks we have been cleaning, weeding out, and getting rid of a number of our toys. As I go through trying to put toys in the give away pile she quickly grabs away the ones she thinks she can't live without. She loves her stuffed animals and unfortunately we have quite a few of them. We didn't count them but Soph has a bunch of stuffed cats of a variety of colors and sizes. They do get a lot of playtime so I couldn't really tell her to throw them away. They are what she plays with. She builds homes for them out of legos and saves boxes from our visits to Costco to make new shelters for them. When she draws her characters are always cats dressed up in clothes. I would almost say the girl is obsessed. 

She checks out books from the library about cats each week. She always seems to find new ones. As a result of all this reading she knows so much about cats and their characteristics, behaviors and even many of the different breeds. She can tell you what breed a cat is if she sees one in the neighborhood.  She is even trying to decide which kind of cat would be best when she gets to have her own. It changes from day to day. I wish we could fill her dream of a cat of her own but at the moment that just isn't something we can do.

When we get to go to Grandma's house, Sophie is always looking for Minton. She usually hides when the kids come over but this time she hung out and let the kids pet her. Even Molly got a few good strokes in before Minton ran away. Sophie was in heaven getting to hold a furry, purry cat.