Monday, August 4, 2014

Don't Look at Me!

Sometimes after I fed Moki, especially in the evenings, I’d sit on the couch afterwards to read. Often, I would look up to see that he had stopped eating and was looking at me. When he finished, he’d come closer to me and give me another look, that could have been challenging.


When I talked to Janice about it, she said that I shouldn’t look at him when he’s eating. She said that I’m focusing too much on him and I shouldn’t. That gives him too much power over me. I need to do my own thing and let him do his.

The Watermelon Fix

Something new came up with Moki. After finishing dinner, he gave me a look bordering on challenging. It didn’t feel good. At first, I thought it might be because after I fed him breakfast, I’d go upstairs to work on my writing. But, after I fed him dinner, I’d stay downstairs and read. So, I tried reading directly after breakfast, and he was fine.

My next experiment had to do with me eating. I always ate breakfast first. Since I have my big meal at noon, when I fed him dinner, I ate nothing before him. So, I ate some watermelon, and then gave him his dinner. There was no challenging look afterward. I think that was it.

When I wrote to Janice, she said, “He is so smart and so sensitive that in this case I would say maybe try it that way. Also try not to look at him and be so focused on him. If you notice that he is looking at you in a certain way then that means you are too focused on him and looking at him to see what he is doing. Remember it is not about him. It is about you and what you want to do when you want to do it. Give him attention and then you remove the attention before he decides that he wants more. Remember, you have to provide and protect.”