A message from Mr. Kitty inspires a musing on how Baby Bear relates to another member of our family--our cat, Divi.

From the moment Divi entered our lives as a kitten, Baby Bear was both fascinated and frightened by her. He would chase her mercilessly around the house and laugh whenever she ran away or arched her back in fear. I tried to acclimate BB to her, taking his hand in mine and running it gently along her back so he could experience the feeling of petting her. But then he would lunge at her, or make sudden, loud noises, and she would run away again.

As Divi grew, so did her ability to defend herself. I had her declawed, and her instinct to slap Baby Bear whenever he gets too close serves her well without resulting in injury to BB.

The thing is, we've had Divi for five years now, and to this day whenever BB sees her, he screams and acts like it's the first time in his life he's ever beheld such a creature. Often he's afraid to leave the room or go up the stairs by himself for fear she'll chase him, which she invariably does. (Of course, to be fair, she chases me up the stairs, batting at my feet with every step, but BB experiences this as terrifying hostility.)

Since BB can't read social cues, he has no idea when Divi is angry or frightened. I've tried explaining to him that when her back is arched, her fur is standing up, and her eyes are the size of dinner plates she is probably not feeling very friendly, but he seems to forget this within seconds of my explanation. Then, the next thing I know, I hear him screaming for me to "save" him from the ferocious cat.

Divi brings a much-needed balance to all the yang energy in the house, so I don't want to get rid of her. Besides, even BB acknowledges that she's a part of our family--once, when we couldn't find her and thought she'd escaped outside, he began crying, saying he'd lost his "best friend." Luckily we found her contemplating us cooly from under the couch--no doubt resting up for her next sparring session with Baby Bear.