new family member

Relunctantly we introduced a cat into our home. I say relunctantly because Alan and are aren't pet people, per se. We appreciate the good things pets give to a family. We don't like the downsides. BUT, we were told that this may help Lilly in a lot of ways. So far, we see that she notices Jack darts out of the room when she screams. She doesn't like this. This seems to have made a connection for her that we were not able to convince her of before. Covering our ears, telling her that it hurt to hear her scream, ignoring her, or putting her in time-out had not made much of a difference. Also, Lilly is allergic to a lot of things, including cats. The doctor told us that it may help her immune system to be around a cat (since her allergy is mild) and it could help some of her other allergies lessen. So far she has had only a few hives and they have disappeared. Her worst episode was visiting the animal shelter, last fall, playing with about 30 cats at one time. She swelled up and got hives all over after playing with the cats for 25 minutes. She is doing great, with Jack, so far.
Max, on the other hand, is over the moon happy to have Jack around. When the cat came home the first thing out of Max's mouth was "I finally have a brother! This is the best day of my life!" Every morning now he tells me how wonderful it is to have Jack here. He told us one night, "Now I don't have to be embarrassed. It was terrible at school when my teacher asked everyone to come up to the board and put a sticker next to their name if they had a dog or cat. I was the only one that didn't have a dog or cat. I had to put two stickers up because I had just a guinea pig and a fish." Poor, poor Max. His life is straight out of a Dicken's novel.
So far, we seem to have hit the jackpot with this kitty. Jack is very friendly and loving. He doesn't run and hide with visitors. He wants to hang out near us or lay on a lap. He loves to watch the birds in the backyard. And, every morning, when I say "Good Morning, Jack," he responds, "Meow." He is very nice and polite. It feels good, too, to help the homeless pet population. Apparently, since the economic downturn, pets have been taken to shelters in record numbers. The population of homeless animals has increased some 300%! They told us Jack was taken to the shelter by a family that had lost their income and couldn't afford to feed their pets. Jack seem grateful. I think he is happy to have a home again.