The Scientific Method

We had three birthdays in rapid succession giving us a thirteen-year-old boy, fifteen year old girl, and one year old cat. Now, you'd think the thirteen-year-old boy would concern me, but it’s the other two I'm writing about today. Hubby and I have many theories involving the idiot cat, which I’ll undoubtedly delve into at some point. We have all the usual concerns involving the girl too. One concern her interest in the scientific method.

Now most adults may be thinking “What kind of mother are you to discourage that kind of academic exploration?” And many parents out there are nodding knowingly and thinking “Yeah, got it, no more needs to be said.” I’ll say it anyway.

They say you can't put frogs in boiling water because they'll hop out. You have to put them in cold water and slowly bring it to a boil. I am not going to tell you how I know this isn't true. Anyway, The Girl started with this premise, put the cat in my bathroom sink with an open drain, and Cat snuggled in. So far, this is pretty normal. The Girl turned on the faucet: a nice, alluring, playful drip. The result is a happy cat. Bat, bat, bat at the drip, lick paw, bat.

Now the ‘science’ begins. The Girl closed the drain. Cat continued to bat at the drip, bat, bat. The sink began to fill. Lick paw, bat, bat. Cat’s fur was starting to get wet, not just her paw now. Bat, bat, bat, lick. Hmm . . . Lick paw, her paw's dry. Hmm . . . Cat's confused. The sink's filling, The Girl’s laughing. Bat, bat, bat, lick, still wet.

Cat shifts in her sink and everything becomes clear to her. You might say it 'sinks in.' She stares at the sink now almost half-full of water, something that wasn't there when she climbed in. Like most self respecting cats, she decided it was time to leave. That sounds simpler than it was. The funny thing about a cat jumping out of a sink with wet paws - it's slippery.

The end result of The Girl’s experiment? Hubby will be the one Cat will blame, for no reason other than he lives here.