Erin

Cute stories! My cousins stuffed a peanutbutter sandwich into the VCR machine once....and stole mom's credit card!

LMAO!!! That is great! Seriously, Neat, I work with kids, and as long as they learn before they leave home or get married, all is well. Not to upset you, but some kids are harder to train than others. The bottomless idea has worked for many, however it's best done when kids can spend the majority of their days outside and just run around in the buff with rubber boots on or something. Kids who tend to go hide in the corner and poop are statistically the toughest kids to train. It took my nephew until he was four, and he was one of those run and hide kids. Your son is quite young and has lots of time to learn (while you rack up the expenses in diapers). But if you persist, with lots of tangible rewards, he will learn eventually!

He sounds like a very special friend. I am sorry for your loss. :fly:

Wow everyone: Thanks for sharing your lovely photos of flowers. It is immensely heartening to me as we in Canada/U.S. are, as Elly says, heading into winter. To know that it is spring somewhere else in the world is a fabulous pick-me-up as the days grow shorter and the temperature drops... :fly:

Thank you, very informative.

Thanks, Elly...I hope he lives as long as that! Now I'm going to have to come up with the perfect name for him, which people say is best to approach by watching him for awhile until he "tells" me what his name is!

I agree with you, I think there's something to that. Thanks! He has an outstanding personality, too!

So....I compromised. I got a smooth coated short haired brown tabby cat, whom I plan to - as Elly suggested - wipe down if it gets to be a problem. I spent quite a bit of time wiht him last night and got a few sniffles, but actually it wasn't bad. And he is such as sweetie! puts his paws up to touch my face and loves to be held. I am in love! Thanks all for your input...

Very cute. My nephew Alistair was over one day (he was 3 at the time) and I asked him if he could say the word "gorilla" He said: "Nawwww, my mouth's too short"

White to blue: "okay, you're kinda cute, but heavens, has anyone talked to you about your posture? Stand up straight! You're so crooked you're gonna tip right over!"

Hey all: Interesting replies. I live in Northern Ontario...so not much chance of getting one of these....part of the appeal for me was offering a couple of cats from the pound a home. There's another adult "cow" cat I am looking at, whom I spent some time with and he doesn't trigger any allergies. I think there are measures one can take to minimize, e.g. wipes, keeping him out of your bed, etc. Angelicvampyre you have just contributed to my conclusion that it depends on both the cat and the person, and one cannot generalize according to hair colour for everyone, although there may be something to it.

I have been researching online, and there was one study which linked colour to level of allergens, however another (at least one) that disputed it. Also, anecdotally, I have been reading through a ton of individuals saying different things about colour...the upshot of which is - It's different for everybody! Also, neutered cats supposedly produce less allergens, and ones who are obsessive groomers have more saliva on their fur, aka more of a reaction for allergy sufferers. I guess someone in the U.S. is selling allergy-free cats now for 10,000 US dollars, too I'm still thinking I want that little black kitten!

Interesting....what about those who are allergic to both cats and dogs, dander I guess, eh? which would still have nothing to do with the colour.

I heard a new one last night....the colour of a cat is correlated with their impact on the respiratory systems of allergy sufferers. Black is the worst, followed by brown/grey, then orange. I was offered a black kitten, am myself slightly allergic to cats, and then was told this. I told them I didn't believe a word of it, that it was folklore/urban myth then I said I would do some research and get back to them...

LOL - this is the 21st century...maybe feminism is starting to hit the animal kingdom