Critter Encounter

February 7
Piggy learns how to count to four!

I am so glad I'm a house cat!  
What do you mean, Zeekie?  You're not a house cat!  You and Momma Kitty go outside all the time!
Not when it's like this out there!
The snow finally stopped...but now the bitter cold is back!  Brrrrrrr.......
I haven't been out in days!  Well...maybe just to use the potty, but I'm reall quick...then it's right back to my room!   I'm kinda bored, though!  Can we play something?
Cool!  Bowling pins!  Ya...ya!  I want to play!
This is the game where I have to sit and stay while Dottie sets up the pins!
She counts one, two, three, four as she sets them up!  I don't move till she tells me "OK"!
She counts one, two, three, four as I knock them down!  Then she counts out four pellets for me for knocking four pins down!  I also get a "Good Girl"!  I like them as much as my pellets!
Now for the easy game!  This one... I have to knock the pins down as she sets them up!  We get a lot of laughs when we play this for people!  The kids love it!
All I have to do is follow her around and knock the pins down, and I get a pellet for each one!
She sets them up... I knock them down!
As she keeps setting them up...I keep knocking them down!
She keeps setting them up!  And I keep knocking them down!  This goes on for awhile!  I get one pellet each time I get one down!  I like this game, 'cuz I get lots of pellets!
When I get tired of this game... I sit and wait for Dottie to set up for the next one!  It's a lot harder because now I have to sit, and stay, and then count to four!
This is my hand signal for "stay"!  We've been practicing this a lot!  It's important that I "stay" for this game!
I get only one cranberry per number!  Dottie had to "change the value" of the trick because I was too smart for her!  When she said "three" and I knocked three pins over, I got three pellets!  Then when she said "four"...I'd knock the last one down and expect four pellets on top of the three I just got!  That made it seven pellets!  She wouldn't go for it, though!  And where cranberries are my favorite treat... I get only one per trick!
Dottie just told me to knock TWO pins down!
Once I knock the two down... I have to back up and then "stay", till she says "good girl"!  Then I get my treat!
Then I have to "stay" untill she sets them up again!  Then she tells me to knock THREE down!
Once I knock three down, I have to back up and "stay"!  This is to let the people know that I really know how many three is!
I'm still waiting for her to say "Good Girl", and give me my treat!  I can't move untill she does!  This is why I had to learn how to "stay" so good!
She just said "ONE...Go"!

 I almost got carried away...and went for two!  She told me to "freeze".  That means I have to stop moving right then and there...and not move 'till she tells me "OK" or "back up...stay"! 

We've been working on "freeze" for a while, now!  I can freeze for up to 6 seconds, so far!  We're working on making it longer and longer!  I end up laughing 'cuz it's kinda like a stare down!  Dottie gets all excited and does the "Good Girl...What a smart pig!" thing!  It's hilarious!! 

Now I get to knock TWO pins down!  Dottie just said "go"!  I just thought... two pins two pellets... and got all excited!  But it's still only one cranberry!
Which is OK... because cranberries are special... so they're worth more!  I get pellets all the time!  Well... not all the time!  I only get cranberries when it's a tough trick!  Like counting!  Not that counting to four is hard!  I let Dottie think that because it amazes her that I'm so smart!  And I get a cranberry for it!
Three!  Stay!
Now I have to back up... and wait for her to reset the pins!
Now she just said "THREE", again!
One... two...
Three!  Sometimes I wait a second or two!  This adds to the suspense!  Then when I knock it down...everybody gets all excited!
Hey!  You know what we need?  A camera that does videos, too!  That would be cool!
All that running around and thinking, made me hungry!
Piggy!  For the last hour... that's all you've been doing!  Eating!
Can you fill my bop toy, for me?
After working so long... it's important to take a play time!
This is the best way to not think about numbers!
Bop it one, two, three!  Two pellets came out!  Bop it one, two, three... two pellets came out!  Bop it one, two, three... one pellet came out!  Bop......
I wonder if Piggy realizes she's still counting?
< Back          Next>
Dottie@critterencounter.com 
© 2009 Critter Encounter
The information contained on this web site cannot be copied or reproduced without the express written consent of critterencounter.com