"Little Miss Sleepy Butt". "Gigantor". "Queen of the House".
I have so many nicknames, that sometimes I forget that my real name is Izzi. See, that's why sometimes - when I'm enjoying the rays of sun coming through the windows, or trying to store up my energy as I sit on the back of the couch - I don't immediately come running when someone calls, "Izzi!" It takes me a moment to process the syllables of it: Iz-zee. And, of course, there are times when I am supposed to respond to "Isabella," which is NOT my real name. I know that it's a sort of affectionate epithet that people like to use around me, but since I'm pretty small, it's much too big for me. When someone calls, "Isabella," I usually just look up from whatever I'm doing (this is, typically, a nap, but can also be and has been when I'm chasing a bug around the house, or mauling one of my stuffed animals, or trotting through the house with shoes that are more than half my weight), but then continue with my activity.
I have heard some of the people around this house call me "cat like," which I take to be a compliment. Think about it: cats are clever and they are very good hunters and they take a lot of naps. That's pretty much the description that you would see under my picture in a yearbook (if, in fact, I ever attended a school; unlikely though that it, I think that there are aspects of a formal education from which I would benefit, not the least of which being a wide variety of choices at meal time...but more about that later).
I believe myself to be the most clever person in this household (think about it: whenever I want to eat, I find a way to get someone to feed me; whenever I want a belly [or - um - somewhat further down my anatomy] rub, I plop myself down on whatever flat surface I can find, part my legs, and - voila!; and when I want to explore the flora and fauna of our back yard, I merely walk to the big window that shows my reflection at night time and someone opens the door for me [and also opens it when I've finished my walpoling]), so that matches well with what a cat does.
I'm an excellent hunter (and, yes, even as I dictate this sentence, I'm reminded of the delightful performance of Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man," substituting "hunter" for "driver" since I'm too little to reach the pedals, and I'm reminded of watching that movie recently because someone in the house who was watching it was also eating potato chips and in order to gorge myself on them, I needed to hand around and pretend to be interested...and look how I absorbed some of that dialogue!). I often see bunnies running around our back yard, and I am out like a shot (after - as I said before - pointing out to those in this household who are forced to walk on only two legs...the poor things!...that I want to visit our lapine friends) to keep them away from our house. And, soon, I'll be doing that to make sure they stay away from our garden, since it is being planted later this week. I did a bit of exploration of the site of the garden (the same as last year, but with much better victuals), and I'm comfortable that it will be a wonderful garden. I hope they plant roast beef and turkey, but I'll just have to be a patient puppy. I also like to chase the birdies that seem to be in the yard at one moment, and then - magically! - disappear the next. I don't know where they go, since I run toward them and they're there and then a moment later, I see their shadow but don't see them any more. Maybe some day I'll figure out this wizardry.
And, the third cat-like thing about me is that I like to nap. No, let me revise that: I LOVE to nap. It is both my hobby and my passion. I have napped in every room in this house, and in nearly every nook and cranny of it (if there's a cranny in one of the rooms that I haven't managed to doze in, it's due to my getting comfy upon entering the room and not making it to every square inch of the room. I have napped in the morning, during the day, in the evening, late in the evening, and at night. Okay, the "at night" is more of my sleep for the night, but isn't everything just a nap? I know that people might call what I do a "cat nap," but I prefer to think of it as a "puppy nap".
And, so, as I said, I have dozens of nicknames (I should point out there are some that I haven't repeated; not because they're hurtful [they aren't], but they're - um - a bit on the naughty side and often have to do with my bathroom habits), and yet I respond to most of them, just to "play the part." But, if you ask me, my name and my only name is Izzi. I. Z. Z. I.
Arf, Yip, Yip, Arf,
Izzi (see what I said?)
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