A Big Step for Ellie

Guess what my Ellie did today? She pet a cat!!!!!

In China, we learned that Ellie was deathly afraid of cats. She would claw her way up as high as possible on me, and scream, and her entire body would tremble. I thought she might not do that once we got home, but she would do the same thing if she saw a cat or a dog. Forget the petting zoo at Animal Kingdom. That was NOT her idea of fun!

On two different occasions, I tried to "help" her pet a cat a while back, and held her hand while touching (ever so slightly) a cat, and it did NOT go over well. From then on, I didn't push it. I figured she'd eventually get past whatever made her fear them so much. (I wonder if stray cats would enter the courtyard/playground at the swi and if maybe the nannies would yell at them and shoo them away or if maybe a cat had even clawed at her and hurt her...she does have a slight scratch-like scar on her cheek.)

Well, lately she's been getting braver and braver, and walking right up to our neighbor's cats (a lot of people let their cats run around outside here, so there are always cats roaming around) but she still would not reach out and touch one. Well, today, the neighbor girl gathered her cat in her arms and Ellie walked right up and petted her!!!! I was so excited for her! It seems like such a small thing, but it FEELS like such a big thing to me. She even rubbed the cat's ears, and said, "Ears!"

Yea, Ellie!