My cat, Bota, does the same thing. He starts out trying to hop onto my lap, which doesn't last long because of my leg moving with foot pedal and swiveling my chair to the iron. His second step is to hop up on the mass of fabric at the left side of my machine, which prevents me from moving it. After moving HIM a couple of times, he resorts to hopping into the same position as your cat...like he's saying "do I have your attention NOW?"