Happy New Year...time to meet Leo!

Greetings and Happy New Year to all!

Before I write this post I feel like I want to first make an apology to my cousin Kim, who is the mom to the most adorable toddler named Leo. Kim (and other Grimes relatives who are reading this), please be assured that the naming of Leo is completely a coincidence.

Now...meet Leo!

Leo is a three month-old kitten that we adopted from the SPCA the day after Christmas. Leo was actually John's Christmas gift to Amelia, which was permitted as a gift to Amelia after John received the blessing from Scott that our family was ready for a new pet. John remembered that Amelia had asked for a new pet in her letter to Santa, and he repeated time and time again that if he was allowed to select a gift for Amelia that it should be a kitten. (I loved hearing John say this...so cute!)

Rest assured that adopting Leo was a VERY serious deliberation for our family. Scott is not a cat person at all and he endured a lot with Heine before she passed this year. (Background: Heine was my 17 year-old cat that I adopted during my last year of college and that Scott had a love/hate relationship with ever since he and I first met). I really give huge kudos to Scott for being open-minded to move forward and realize that the children are ready for a new pet, despite his disinterest in the discomforts that come with having pets in the home (having the potential for hair everywhere, removing the cat from the kitchen counter during food prep, etc.).

In all honesty, Leo is a good little cat. He immediately bonded with Amelia during our visit at the SPCA and he has been great in our home since he first arrived. Leo consistently uses the litter box (Scott is so happy with this!) and hasn't been a nuisance in our home life. While he is a typical playful and spunky kitten, he is also very cuddly and sweet. Having had both older cats and younger kittens, I hadn't realized the impact each type of cat would have on kids that only knew one or the other. Amelia and John are constantly surprised by the silly playfulness of Leo, which is something that I completely take for granted.

So where did his name come from? The name the SPCA had on record for Leo was "Lion-O", which (deservedly) Amelia was not crazy about. We told her that she was free to choose any name she wanted for the cat, reminding her that Leo was not old enough to have bonded with a particular name yet. But before we left the shelter, Amelia had decided that she liked the name Leo because it was "cute, yet appropriate for a boy kitten, and close enough to his old name that he wouldn't be confused".

Expect to see much more of Leo in the future! He is a great addition to our family!