My cat has been Going Through Some Things recently. At least, I assume so–I’m hard-pressed to find alternative explanations for why he has suddenly quit sleeping on a piled quilt at the foot of my bed, and started headbutting me with his drooling mouth instead. I think he is a delightful cat, but this is Not Ideal.

If I roll over to avoid his loving drool, he follows me and starts again. If I roll onto my stomach, he begins nibbling my ears. If I move him off of me, he meows the most plaintive meow I have ever heard. It’s become a little bit like what I imagine owning a very anxious, very small labrador retriever would be like. Needless to say, I haven’t been sleeping very well.

It’s hard to stay mad at the cat, though. After all–as evidenced by the fact that he will occasionally try to eat paint off the walls of my apartment–he’s not 100% on the same page as the world around him. That has to be stressful, particularly if you’re only 12 pounds.

I think what may have brought on this most recent behavior is my apartment’s turning on of the building radiators. My apartment is heated by a rather crotchety steam radiator. When turned on, it produces huge quantities of heat, and–mostly relevant to my cat–it hisses. While I’m slightly worried that steam buildup will cause the thing to explode and kill us all, the cat seems to be more concerned about the fact that I have allowed what in his mind is a large, metal, singularly ill-tempered cat to live with us. Given that he won’t go near the thing (and is currently sitting on the floor, staring balefully at it from across the room), I suspect that he is a little stressed by goings-on. He certainly doesn’t trust the radiator.

In an effort to get more sleep (or at least less-drooly sleep), I have started purchasing a whole set of new cat toys to take his mind off of the radiator. This shows signs of helping–though he’s ignored the ribbon-covered rubber football I purchased him, the rattly plastic ball and hanging mouse on a string have both been big hits. He’s been ignoring the radiator and attempting to bring down feline vengeance on the hapless fake rodents for the last 20 minutes.

Hopefully, this will tire him out too much to bother me tonight. Perhaps–if I dare to dream–he’ll find it in his heart to forgive the radiator, and befriend it. Truly, it would be a holiday story for us all.