A Lucky Black Cat and Her Friends
Once upon a time, two tiny kittens were found in a dumpster at a school. The kittens were so tiny that they needed to be fed kitten formula every two hours by the teacher who found them. The teacher had horses and a barn and thought the kittens could make good barn cats if they couldn’t find homes. But winter was coming and it was too cold for the kittens to stay outside… and they were too lovable to spend their days hunting mice in the barn.
Upon hearing the news of the kittens’ rescue, the little community provided veterinary care and tried to find homes for the kittens when they were old enough to leave their rescuer’s home. But the home for the black kitten fell through and even though we were still mourning the loss of our family dog, we decided the kitten needed a furever home before Christmas so we gave her ours.
For the last few weeks our biggest struggle has been who’s turn it was to play with or snuggle the kitten. So when Fiona lost her first tooth this week, it was the perfect opportunity to embrace my ridiculous and magical tradition of leaving a hand-made soft toy instead of money under their pillows.
**Yes, our girls have a really special tooth fairy, but this tradition started quite innocently and just snow-balled. It all started when our oldest lost her first tooth. I asked Bella if she hoped the tooth fairy would leave some shiny coins or a paper money (because at 5 years old kids don’t really know the paper has more value, they often think of money as the shiny coins). She said that she hoped the tooth fairy would leave her JEWELS. And like an excited, first time mom, I obliged and put some shiny coins along with some jewel-like beads I happened to have in my sewing room. She started writing notes, wishing for certain things for each tooth and like magic, we made it happen. Until one lost tooth when she asked for a skunk… try finding a stuffed skunk after 9pm, so like a devoted, crafty mama, I grabbed some fleece from my fabric stash and sewed one myself and it has been mostly animal gifts ever since! **
Back to the story… Fiona already has a few black cat stuffed animals, but they don’t “look like Lucky” because they all have patches of white on the face or paws and our Lucky Lady is all black. Let me tell you, sewing a black face onto a black cat was not easy! But tonight when it was time for bed, instead of fighting over who got to snuggle Lucky to go to bed, Fiona ran for her toy Lucky (who was laying in a little, cardboard box because where else would she be, cats love boxes!)
One more animal added to our collection of friends!
