“Hngh…. hmmm.” Drowsy as I was I still managed to wake up from the slumber I had fallen into.

The first thing I saw was the ceiling, painted light blue and scattered with clouds I tried reaching for them giggling when my paws brushed against each other. The light creak of a well oiled hinge didn’t detract from my attention as I continued to grab the clouds far beyond the reach of my stubby arms.

“Wakie Wakie….?” I felt two paws gently grab me underneath my arms and lift me from what I could now see was a crib. I giggled a bit trying to find out whose arms were grabbing me when the face of the tigress from before suddenly took up all my vision.

“Hey there kitten, feeling better? Oh Im sure you are!” She nuzzled my exposed belly forcing a giggle out of me.

“Someone’s messy…. very messy by the smell of it.” She feigned a sniff and wrinkled her nose. I laughed at her attempts to draw my attempts away from the real problem on hand.

When she sat me on the changing tables it felt as if I were sitting on warm mud. I simply sat there sucking on my paws when I was laid on my back.

I didn’t even know that she had started to change me until I smelled a putrid odor not unlike that of septic tank. I giggled at the comparison that I had made, proud of myself for doing something that would have come so easily to me.

“You’re awfully happy all of a sudden.” I looked up at the tigress making me giggle even harder at her contorted face.

The change completed, I was placed back into that infernal onesie, lifted onto the tigress’ hip and carried away back into what I assumed was the playroom.

From my perch, I saw that many of the older cubs were gone while most of the younger cubs were crawling about exploring the “terrain” that lay before them. While I would have liked to join them, for some unknown reason I was too exhausted.

Laying my head on the tigress’ chest I continued to suck on my paws while glancing around the room. With the gentle patting on my bottom, the warmth of her body and the gentle pulsing of her heartbeat in my ears I grew drowsy and fell asleep again.

______________________________________________________________________________

I awoke to whispers.

“.... sleep? He needs a minimum of twelve hours a night…. Never seen him so fussy before… Surprised all the other ladies you know how they are…..” I could hear the tigress whisper.

“Really? Joshie isn’t like that…. ever… maybe it’s because of….. him….” That last word was said with such malice that I was taken aback.

I groggily lifted my head off of the chest that I was lying against mumbling and cooing to myself with one of my paws already in my mouth.

“Well… Joshie seems to have woken up so I think I’ll get going, same time tomorrow then?”

“Sure…” The tigress trailed off and waved awkwardly as I realized that the creature I was attached to was not the tigress. I bolted up straight and shot a glance up at the face of whoever was carrying me.

“It’s only me… only mommy.” She smiled down at me seeming to know what was going through my head.

I laid my head back down and nuzzled her chest for a bit getting comfortable. Just as I was about to fall back asleep again, she lifted me onto her hip, opened the door of a car that I knew was hers and placed me onto a soft pedestal.

Immediately I began to move about trying to grab a small plush tiger that was stuffed into a drink holder when I was held back by a paw. I whined a bit continuing to try to grab the plush to no avail.

It got worse, she held me down and pulled straps over my shoulders across my thighs and attached them to another strap that was hanging off the edge of the seat. When she finally let go, I could only move my arms and legs.

Here I was trying to free the miniature version of myself from the confines of a drink holder and myself was placed into the confines of a car seat, it made no sense to me. Naturally I whined some more entreating her to free me, rather I was given a nuzzle to the cheek and a kiss instead.

The door shut, the long journey began, halfway through watching towers of light shining through the darkness of the night I realized that there was something in my paw. It was my little stuffed tiger. How it got there, I would never know.

As the car continued driving on, the gentle swaying and vibrating made me very drowsy. It would have nearly put me to sleep had we not reached our house. She pulled into a large brown stucco walled house with a wooden and steel fence surrounding it.

As the car stopped pillars of light jutted up from the sides of the driveway immediately waking me up from whatever sleep I was about to fall into. I kept staring at the lights outside the windows trying to grab some in my paws until the door suddenly opened letting in freezing wind.

Almost immediately, I was released and held to a warm chest by mommy’s paws. I mewled and pawed at her clothes wanting to snuggle into her warm fur and away from the clothes, but she seemed a bit too occupied to notice me.

As we entered the house, I felt a wall of warm air greet our entrance. I purred for a moment enjoying the thawing warmth as I sat in a bundle of clothing. I didn’t even notice that mommy had sat down until I felt a rocking motion.

Looking up I saw that mommy was holding me while sitting and rocking me gently. I must have had a confused look on my face because she simply smiled down at me .

“I think it's a sleepy little kitten’s bedtime.”

“No!” I replied defiantly knowing that she wouldn’t even understand, but before I could even contemplate her reaction I let out a high pitched yawn immediately disproving my previous statement.

“That’s all you’ve ever said sweetie.” She replied with a giggle, immediately nuzzling my cheek with hers.

I whimpered and sighed a bit trying to dig into her in an attempt to force her to hold me while I slept.

“I’ll be here until you go to sleep, don’t worry.” She gently patted my bottom reassuringly.

With the rhythmic patting, the gentle rocking and fuzzy warmth of mommy, I slowly, but surely fell asleep feeling much more at ease than when I first appeared at the daycare earlier that day.