Kibble

The kittens made their first foray into the world of kibble last night. It took a while for them to grasp that you only eat the contents of the bowl--not the bowl itself. Once they got the hang of it, however, the food disappeared fast.

The water bowl was another story. I'll just say that there was a lot of snorting and rearing involved.

Lola seemed a bit taken aback to see her babies eating from a bowl, but I think that once she's processed the situation, she'll be relieved that the onus of feeding is on someone else now.

Meanwhile, I'm trying (unsuccessfully) not to get too attached to the little monsters, who will be going off to their new homes within the next two or three weeks...

Rabbit

I got back from vacation yesterday. I was only gone a week, but it turns out to have been a pivotal seven days in the kittens' development. They are huge (relatively) and cat-like, and have completely foregone the cardboard box where they were born.

Now, they are explorers of the Underworld. Under the bed. Under the couch. Under the radiator. Underfoot...

This one is called Rabbit. You can't quite tell from the picture, but he has the hindquarters of a rabbit, and until recently, he dragged them around behind them in the most disconcerting way. I was actually starting to worry that he'd never walk like a normal cat, but he seems to have figured it out sometime in the past seven days. He now scampers around unhindered, just like the other two (who are as yet unnamed).

Faces

I really admire cats' ability to appear deadly serious one moment, and utterly ridiculous the next.

Fur

I try to imagine what it would be like to be dressed in fur on a day like today. It's seven thirty in the morning, and already the temperature is near 90 and forecasted to go up to 98. A skunk sprayed somewhere outside last night, and my window fan pulled the smell inside and filled the apartment with it. Bongo looks mildly disgusted and slightly intrigued. Lola doesn't seem affected, and neither do the kittens.

Awake

The kittens just slept for three days straight. It turns out they were building up to this.

Locomotion

Attempts at locomotion have begun. The kittens will push themselves up on trembling legs, dodder in mid air, take in the new vantage point for a moment, and then resume a prone position.

Nap, repeat.

On other fronts, Lola and Bongo have resumed their ultimate fighting, on a nightly and morningly basis. I am once again sleep deprived. But somehow, here in the midst of late spring, it doesn't bother me a bit.