"Soft paws"? Nipping? Swatting?

[soph]

Recently, my Sophie has been using her paws to try and get my attention. It's kind of hard to describe, but she's not "hitting" me and she has her claws in when she does it. It's more like she's batting, or patting my arm several times. She only does this if I'm laying down. She'll do it in the morning, or if I'm laying on the couch and watching TV. I assume it's some sort of attention thing, like she wants me to play or feed her. I'm only curious because she's been doing it just recently and I've had her for almost a year now. She was a rescue. Any ideas?

Nipping...she's does this occasionally. I assume it's because she's done with us petting her, which is fine. She's always super gentle and never breaks skin or nips hard. I have gone through some threads here to look this up, and we just consider it "love bites" because she's not aggressive at all. The other day, I was getting something out of my purse and she just ran by and nipped my hand (again, super gentle). Thoughts? 

Swatting...she'll do this if you walk by her and she's sitting on a perch of some sort. No claws out, just a simple swat. She does this to my Dad a lot when he comes over...haha. Are these "love taps"? 

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Noodles does all 3 of those things.  

She will tap me on the leg when I'm getting her food ready or if I'm sitting in my computer chair and she wants something.  Usually food but sometimes she wants to get in my lap too.  If I'm not quite getting her food fast enough she may gently nip my pants.  

I've jokingly called her my resident grumpy cat because she really can be.  She'll swat us just for walking by sometimes.  My DD doesn't like to walk too close to Noodles because she's afraid of being swatted.  Some cats do it more in play or for attention; Noodles always seems to do that when she is feeling grumpy or ornery.  She's not all grump; she's sitting here now in my lap purring and kneading,  I'm not crazy about the nipping; so I do sometimes give her a little "eh!" sound as if to say "cut it out!"  I've had her since she was 11 weeks old and she will be 10 next month.  This is all her personality.  Some things have changed and she goes through stages where she is more cuddly or more cranky; but some things are pretty constant.  I do have to watch her signs to know when she has had enough stimulation or doesn't want to be touched.