I got my first kitten back in March. Everyday since then he has been waking me up by crying every morning at around 5 am. I make sure to give him lots of food the night before, and many mornings when I do get out of bed when he starts up I check and see that his food and water are still quite full yet. I thought that maybe he wants more attention, so I make sure to play and pet him for a while before going to bed. But, alas, I am still being woken up every morning.

Since he has gotten bigger, he now puts his paw under the door and rattles it while meowing. I wouldn't mind letting him in the room at night or in the morning if he didn't pounce all over me continuously (thus not letting me sleep--so I lock him out of the bedroom at night).

When he meows in the morning, I simply ignore him, knowing that if I don't give him any attention that I won't reinforce his behavior--but this is still going on! This morning he rattled the door so much that it actually opened and I suddenly awoke to a kitten pouncing on my face....

He is a sweet cat and I think myself lucky to have gotten him, so this is really my only complaint. How do I get him to stop?

Thank you.