Thursday, July 2, 2009

The Adventures of Egreck and Ari

When I was pregnant many concerned people told me:

"You know, once you have a baby, you have to give up your cats!"
"Cats try to kill babies in their sleep."
"Cats are jealous of babies. Be careful!"

Well, to all those people that were so worried about my cats hurting my baby I offer you this; Exhibit A:


And Exhibit B:



That blob of black fur next to my son is Egreck, my incredibly docile and friendly cat. He loves my son and my son loves him. In fact, Egreck has always been curious about babies. When I was pregnant he did not know what to make of my enormous round belly.



To clear the myth up about babies and cats being enemies, I've decided to write a children's book about it entitled: The Adventures of Egreck and Ari. Egreck is the main cat in the story and Ari is my son.

It starts when I am pregnant:


And then it continues on to describe how both my cats reacted to my son's birth and prescence in the house. Here are Egreck and Simon (my other more reserved cat) waiting for me to come home. At this point all relevant human parties are at the hospital involved in the birth. This left the cats to sit and wait.





Often the cats were left out of the action when my son came home from the hospital. Egreck, in particular being the more curious of my two cats, was left behind closed doors; wondering what was happening.



Egreck was also quite fascinated by the influx of random visitors I received after my son was born. He loved all the action occurring in the apartment.


All artwork is made with construction paper and glue which both Egreck and Ari have at one time tried to play with or eat during the process.

Hopefully this illustrated children's book will clear up the myth about cats and babies hating one another. Because Egreck loves my son and the feeling is mutual.

7 comments:

  1. I love this story and the book that tells it. I think parents and children and babies and friends who have cats would enjoy it. I can visualize my little Feryl in the book, speaking of sweet cats. Thanks.

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  2. Cordy- Animals are wonderful for kids! I totally agree! How is Piotr Lev doing, anyhow. Priska claims that she found him and you STOLE him from her. :p. I miss you!! Where are you at?

    Mom- Oh Faryl, he's a good boy. He does love to sunbathe!

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  3. It's not totally a myth.

    While I agree that a book on this topic for kids and to comfort cat-loving moms-to-be is a good idea, the myth isn't that they are enemies but that this is always the case.

    One of S&Rs cats scratched up their baby pretty badly and was very jelous - I can't remember if they did end up getting rid of that one or if it was just exiled to one room of the house.

    It all depends on the cat - and possibly how the humans set up the house and comfort the jelous-types.

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  4. That's a valid point. Not ALL cats are wonderfully behaved with children; I mean they can't ALL be as well-behaved as Egreck. He is a hard cat to live up to.

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  5. My cat just loves to cuddle with me and purrs VERY loud.

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