Day Two

Tai and Chi swing between Yin and Yang and often in opposition to each other. Tai usually starts out being the more active one, and then when she's tuckered out, she flops down somewhere to take a snooze while her now alert. /;gy.dgdee eeeee uuuuuuiiiiiiiiiiiuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudwwwwwwwwwwww-f sister, Chi, becomes more animated as though someone somewhere is turning switches on and off. My task today is to find those switches! As you see above, Chi is determined to have her say in this blog too. I told you they were literate. Chi was trying to use the telephone a little while ago. Now she is tuckered out and is sitting beside me reading what we've written so far. Proofing, no doubt, and for good reason, as many of you know. While they are both clearly smart little kittens, Chi seems to be more determined to figure out how the world of technology works. This morning the phone was the center of attention. She's already figured out how to work the laptop. Running over the keyboard at full speed seems to activate a lot of things, like changing it over to airplane mode, which is something I may need to know next time I fly. I hope I have a kitten with me for the next flight, so I'll know how to do. 

The other cats in the house are learning how entertaining the mini sisters can be. First Bootsy and then Anjolie sat for a while in the living room, safely out of danger, and watched the morning kitten show. This morning their active time started immediately after breakfast, which Chi ate in bed. She thought that was pretty cool. Tai showed up in the kitchen to eat with da big katz, while Chi was trying to slip in forty more winks. I didn't let her get away with that though, because meal time is a project with this many cats, vuyweyoe33333333333333333 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 3ee33333gt5iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiioo5o5, and if someone lags behind too much, they miss out altogether. Anjolie and Bootsy were such slow eaters as kittens that I had to put them up high to eat so their much older sister, Zuki, who wasn't very tall, couldn't muscle them out of meals. She was a Munchkin kitty, so the kittens were the only beings in her world that were actually smaller than she was. Yes, she tried to take full advantage of the situation, and I don't blame her really. She spent most of her 17 years being the smallest one in the house, no doubt. Although Bootsy is the largest boy, he's still a little timid at feeding time, but since he's big, he usually goes around and cleans up leftovers because of his appetite. I still feed Anjolie separate from the crowd because she is the world's daintiest eater, which is part of the reason she has the title of "Princess." She is hale and hearty, but I've spent over five years trying to make sure she's gotten a chance to eat before her brothers are allowed to move in to clean the bowls, which one of them at least makes a point of doing. 

Chi is nose down now on the arm of the sofa, which is the only reason I'm able to write this morning. Typing fingers are such a temptation. They look like toys waiting to be pounced on and chewed. I have decided to allow da girlz' addenda to stand as is, so you'll just have to figure out what I was writing before I was so cutely interrupted. Da girlz have slept a good portion of the morning so I have gotten some work done. I have, however, spent as least two solid hours doing not much of anything besides being a cat bed, which is an art, I've decided. In fact, I see a future book or at least a chapter or blog entitled, "Zen and the Art of Kitten Watching." There truly is an art to it, and I think that Bootsy and Anjolie will get to assist me in writing that bit because they are really good at it. They know how to do it surreptitiously. Yeti and Pixie haven't yet learned the fine art of kitten watching. Yesterday, their first full day at home, Yeti kept poking his nose through the kitty door to see if they were still here. As soon as he saw them, he'd sort of storm back out to the catio, slamming the door behind him as best as he could manage with a flexible rubber door. While he couldn't make the preferred noise, he did manage to exude all the teenage angst he was experiencing, having recently been upstaged as the "baby" of the family by these two admittedly adorable little girl kittens. All 6'5" of his teen self (comparable in kitty speak anyway) showing the disgust and anxiety appropriate for the circumstances. 

Pixie, on the other hand, is handling things much better. She's so easy going that I knew she'd be okay with our new charges. I think she was put out for a few minutes until I pointed out how badly these little girlz were going to need a big sister to show her the ropes. Pixie is all about being helpful. She volunteered for the job of kitty guard since we got back from Washington at the end of last year. No one asked her to come in every hour or so from the catio and do an inside perimeter patrol with posts at the most significant windows in the house. Being the little earth angel she is, she knew instinctively that there was a need, so she volunteered to do the job. She goes to the windows and looks out and lets us know that "all's well," if it indeed is. If not, she gives a different call to indicate that something might be just the teeniest bit amiss out there. Usually it's just that Beebee is out there in what she presumes must be clear and present danger. Even the neighborhood marmalade cat is out there, she gets agitated until I reassure her that Beebee is in or I go to the door and call her in so she won't get her butt whooped by said cat. Once she's reported to me and has been appropriately acknowledged, she jumps down and proceeds with her day. If I don't acknowledge her diligence, she will carry on at the window a while longer and finally leave in a huff if no one mentions how hard she is at working on behalf of the whole household. All she asks is to be heard, seen, and acknowledged. She's the easiest cat I've ever met. Completely guileless. She is like my twins. She loves every one and accepts everyone. Those three are already making inroads with the kittens, looking out for them, sniffing noses and tails. They are all bonding already. There will be no head bopping unless they need to set boundaries if they're too rambunctious. 

Yeti, on the other hand, likes to bop the kittens on the head. He's not rough with them. He just doesn't know quite what to do with people so much smaller than him. While he's moved past the teen angst of yesterday, he's still not quite sure about the tiny pair. When he came in today from the catio, he was more curious about this little sisters. He even got to sniff their tales a few times. He's adapting very fast to having new cats in the house. It's really hard to stay upset with beings that are that small and cute. Even Beebee, who usually not very sociable, is less than aggressive towards them, and that's saying a lot really, given Beebee's background. She's gotten increasingly more reasonable with each new arrival. She's managed to get a few non-aggressive sniffs of the girls' tails. All in all, that's good news for da little girlz. That's downright good for Beebee, given her past interactions with other cats. She's really come a long way since she was a kitten.She'll probably be the last one to get warm and fuzzy with them, but she's doing better each time. I don't see them snuggling up together any time soon, but I'd be happy with peaceful co-existence.  

Li'l is the only other one who hasn't interacted much with the kittens. He will at least eat breakfast right next to them. Li'l hasn't been feeling well, so he's spent a lot of time in the bathtub away from kitten capers. I'm not sure if he's purposefully avoiding them because he doesn't feel good, or if it's because he's worried he's being replaced, which we all know is impossible. He's my forever feline soul mate. We've spent 26 years total together. These are Jan's kittens. Do I love them? Certainly. Just as I've loved each of her babies, but they're her babies. Not mine. I help care for them, but they are not my feline soul mates. I have to assume Li'l is feeling insecure. Last night, I shut the two of us in my bedroom for several hours so we could have some cuddle time. I think it helped some. I'm going to do it again tonight for as long as it takes for him to come back and join the family for me than mealtimes. He's my forever boy and I've got to make him see that nothing has changed between us because Aunty Jan adopted two baby kitties.

Their second day ends with them having won over most of the house already. I'm sure by the end of the week they'll be an indispensable part of the family.  By the end of the year, we won't remember what life was like before they arrived.