Emma is not a lap cat but she is affectionate. When you live in the land of the Snuggle Twins and the 70 lb. lap dog, however, finding that affection isn’t so easy. Emma has solved this dilemma by waiting for me to play with Ellie and then running up tight beside me to be petted with one hand while I play with Ellie with the other.

But one day I noticed her on a ledge near the bathroom after I took a shower and took a few minutes to let her play in my wet hair. Since then she’s became a regular customer and is often there to greet me when I step out of the shower.

Eventually I set her on the bed and laid down and patted my chest and to my surprise, she jumped right up and started rubbing her head against mine and chirping her birdie purrs. Our one-on-one snuggles have now become a morning ritual, although they don’t always last for long, one of the others will usually sniff out that snuggling is afoot and jump up with us.

Keep arms and legs inside the ride at all times!

Easier said then done when centrifugal forces are at work.

One morning before work I stepped out of the shower and saw Emma sitting on the ledge next to the bathroom. She loves wet hair and I had a few moments before we needed to leave, so I leaned down and let her play in my hair. She purred and purred her quiet chirpy purrs and put me in a good mood to start the day.

Here the warm beds put her in a good mood to end the day.

I wanted a different mood for this picture compared to Sam’s toes taken with bounce flash, so I used only the room lamp as lighting and bumped the ISO of the camera up to 3200, but even so the shutter speed at f/8 was only one quarter of a second.

Emma got her teeth cleaned over the break, and since it was her first time under anesthesia we were advised to keep her separated from the other animals for the rest of the day and keep an eye on her. I stayed with her in the evening in the guest bedroom and she was all over me, rubbing her head up under my chin, a temporary lap cat. Much like she was that first night we brought her home when she was so nervous, making me feel bad for her now, as I knew stress was driving her behavior.

My wife switched with me at bedtime as the other pets often sleep on me. Emma hates to be confined though and mewed loudly under the door and kept me from sleeping (but not, apparently, my wife). I eventually freed her and let her roam the house, but she decided instead to spend the night playing in our bedroom, grabbing little objects and then batting them around the hardwood.

I got very little sleep that night but fortunately she was back to her normal self the next day and we both slept in peace once more.

Last weekend I took the ornaments off the Christmas tree and yesterday took the tree itself down. Emma has lost her favorite tree but her second favorite remains. I took this picture of her on the cat tree last year after I got my new camera, I was using her as my test subject for using the off-center focus points.