A Test of Wills

Every day I wake up really excited, looking forward to my breakfast of sweet potato.  Lately, I've been progressively waking up earlier in anticipation of my tasty breakfast...Momma seems cranky about that.  Dadz on the other hand doesn't seem to notice, he sleeps through it...Momma seems cranky about that too.  I sleep on Momma and Dadz bed and in the morning, when I'm hoping to encourage someone to get up and feed me, I like to roll around, wiggle to and fro, and then come within inches of Momma's face, staring at her until she opens her eyes. Hello! I say to her in my Mattie-like way.

She always opens up one eye and peeks out at me.

I'm all smiles, tail wagging.... Momma pulls the covers over her head in response.

I'm not daunted.  I happily take my paw and gently pat her face, or at least what I think is her face...hard to truly tell because her face is all blanket covered.  Pat, pat, pat.  She pulls the covers down and stares at me.  Unphased, I'm all smiles and I stare back at her, all happy with my fluffy little tail wagging.

"Mattie, go back to sleep," she mumbles and rolls over.  Sometimes, in the morning, I think that's my name..."Mattie, go back to sleep," on any given morning my Momma mumbles that to me about 5 times. I think she's hoping I'll go back to sleep, but I can't be sure.

My best guess is that she needs more encouragement.  So I always walk to where Momma's rolled over to on the big bed...I dig around in the covers until I find her head. I like digging in the covers and so this is one of my most favorite morning rituals - dig, dig, dig!

She uncovers her face, and even though it's still nearly pitch-black in the bedroom, we have a stare down.  I'm all happy, wiggling with excitement - hard to tell what she's feeling, Momma gives nothing away, just stares at me.

We are having a test of wills.  We do this over things other than breakfast as well - space on the couch, bath time...mine not hers, cheese left overs, and sometimes just because the mood strikes me to have a good old fashioned stare down.

But this morning, like all mornings, I've got a plan - happily stare at her with joy, joyfully stare at her with love, focus all my positive energy into my stare and wiggle with sheer delight. I am determined to summon all my mental energy, package it in a bow of joyous love and to 'will' her to get out of bed and make my breakfast.  Just like every other time I take this approach, her resolve crumbles and Momma gives in - she wakes up and makes me my glorious sweet potato breakfast.

I gleefully eat my treat, and promptly return back to the big, warm bed to snuggle next to Dadz for a nap - leaving Momma out in the living room on the sofa. 

The moral of the story: Sometimes, when people are being cranky or set in their way, they likely just need your help - be persistent, smile, wiggle a bit and motivate them to be the great person you know that they are!

Much lub and blessings,
MattieDog