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Friday, March 02, 2012

According to this website, the name Shimona comes from Hebrew, and means "hear, listen". Which is ironic as we met her on the way back from a silent film. She's certainly made her voice heard since though. And it appears to be telling us that she doesn't like cheap food.

Naturally, as a former stray, you'd imagine she'd eat anything, so I popped down to Asda on Wednesday and bought her some of their own brand Tiger food. She won't touch it. She will, however, eat Chloe's expensive renal food. And fresh tuna. So yesterday I tried her on Lidl's Opticat range. She won't go near that either, but I told her she's not getting anything else, so I left it down on the floor. Until Chloe came along and ate it.

So I've got a stray cat who won't eat anything but the best, and a Persian with kidney failure who loves cheap Lidl food, but isn't allowed to eat it. My Mum has suggested that maybe Shimmy was owned by a little old lady who used to cook her fresh meat every day, and I'm beginning to think she's right. Not only was she sniffing around the oven a lot yesterday, but she seems to prefer Lisa to me. Which is madness when you think about it.

Lisa and I are getting used to the name Shimona now, which is ironic as Amelie keeps forgetting it. When she got up yesterday morning, she couldn't remember what she'd named the cat, but she knew "it was something unusual". Lisa and I attempted to fool her by suggesting some names that we'd prefer, but she wouldn't have it. She didn't know what it was, but she knew what it wasn't. She pointed out on Wednesday that Shimmy looks a lot like Tabby McTat, so whenever she forgets the name, she tends to call her Tabby. In fact, her first words as she walked through the door after nursery yesterday were "Now... where's that Tabby cat?". The two have become inseparable.


Shimona's not the only new arrival to be taking up our time though. There's also the matter of our unborn baby. Lisa had to cancel her midwife appointment last week due to uncontrollable vomiting, but the good news is that it was rescheduled for yesterday afternoon. So with Amelie at nursery and me on annual leave, it meant I could go with her. Lisa has to venture into the depths of Whitehawk for her midwife appointments, which are held at the Roundabout Children's Centre, a council-run facility that was opened by the Queen at 2:45pm on Thursday, 8th March, 2007. I know that, because I mentioned it on my blog. Little did I know that five years later, I'd be following in the Queen's footsteps.

It's actually a very nice place. Think of it as a prefab teepee with stairs. Their noticeboards are full of posters advertising numerous local groups, including one for Dads under 26, and another for Mums aged 16-18. That one's called 'Little Pickles'. I'm not sure if the name refers to the babies, or the mischievous tykes who got pregnant.

I'd just started reading a leaflet entitled 'Keeping Love Alive After Your Baby', when we were called in. So I'll never know if they recommend affairs. But the good news is that the appointment went well. The midwife listened to our baby's heartbeat, which was coming through like an express train, and then sent Lisa off to wee on a stick in the bathroom. While she was gone, she asked me if we had any plans for the weekend, so I told her we're taking Amelie swimming. I mentioned that although she's almost three and a half, we've only just started going.

The midwife sympathised, and said that despite the best of intentions, it's often hard to get around to these things. She said it was the same with her five-year-old son. Before adding "But we love our winter holidays, so we take him ski-ing all the time". That pretty much trumped my £3 swimming lessons.

4 comments:

Phil's Mum said...

The Queen came to Whitehawk???  Was she doing a Princess Diana impression?

Phil's Mum said...

I see I DID read your original blog about the Queen, but 5 years is a long time ago to remember when you're my age.

A Passer-by said...

Amelie is obviously making a stand for the cat against people who shorten names - like people who call her Am or Ammy!!

Lisa said...

I call her Ammy-Am quite a lot - which completely misses the name shortening point.