After examining a recent video I sent her of the kitten, my mother asked, “Is he getting really big?” I don’t think so, I told her. He’s just a baby.
But I dutifully got on the scale, got on the scale with him, and then did the math. (Actually, I tried for about ten minutes to get him to stand on my kitchen scale, which he refused to do with more than two paws at a time.)
When we first got him, he was somewhere around four pounds. Now he is EIGHT AND A HALF POUNDS.
He’s still just a baby though.
We’ve had the kitten for two whole months now. I think it’s safe to say that he’s completely changed our lives. For the better, I hasten to add. Of all the life choices I’ve ever made, getting him is right up there near the top.
Names
The first thing you should know, is that I lost the naming battle. We call him the name my daughter gave him, Leo; Lenny is a blog-only name. Oh well. There’s always next time. (Although now I have a desire to name a kitten Lionel, so we’ll see.) (We have no current plans to get a second cat. Desire, yes. Plans, no.)
We hardly call Leo by his given name, though. We all refer to him as Cat, or The Kitten. I have a variety of nicknames I use for him, namely Buddy or Baby Cat or Floofy McGee or Cutie Patootie or Blinky Baby.
Likes
At this stage in his young life, the kitten has many preferences. His favorites, in no particular order are:
- Playing
- Looking out the window
- Scratching things, especially things he should not be scratching, but also, fortunately, things we bought specifically for him to scratch
- Colorful plastic springs that of course get lost SUPER easily under chairs and couches and the stove and doors (I now understand why they come in a pack of 60)
- His people
- Shoes
- Water dripping from the faucet (to bat and bite)
- Lying in front of the open freezer door
- Filtered water (to drink)
- Our robot vacuum (although I suppose instead of liking Rocky, the kitten could possibly harbor a deep and suspicious hatred for it???)
- Being blow dried
- Boxes
- Back-foot rubs
- Paper bags
- Paper in general
- Jaw scritches
- Top-of-head scritches
- Tummy scritches
- Cat grass
- The plastic slipcovers we bought for our chenille armchairs
- Chasing his springs into the chenille armchairs so he can jostle the plastic slipcovers
- “Hiding” under the plastic slipcovers we bought for our chenille armchairs
- Climbing onto the chenille armchairs beneath the plastic slipcovers
- Concealing himself underneath the coffee table or couch, or behind doors or walls, and leaping out at whomever walks past him in an attempt at ferocity (he does not use his claws or teeth when he attacks, which I find so endearing)
Dislikes
The kitten is an extremely agreeable fellow. The parent of Carla’s friend, on first meeting the kitten, said, “He’s really pliable, isn’t he?” I think he was looking for the word “compliant,” but “pliable” is accurate too; the kitten is very floppy and amenable to existing in all sorts of strange and uncomfortable looking positions.
He does, however, have a few dislikes.
- Baths
- Being held when he wants to PLAY
- Postponing a meal by any amount of time AT ALL
- Staying inside when his people are going outside
- Car rides
- Being excluded from any activity
Contributions to Smooth Running of the Household
The kitten has undertaken several jobs and has committed to doing his work as effectively and adorably as possible. In many cases, he has been promoted to manager and takes his supervisory duties very seriously. On any given day, you might find him:
- Supervising the robot vacuum
- Overseeing the cleaning of the litter box
- Investigating anything that takes place on the kitchen island
- Ensuring the safety of his humans by accompanying them at all times
- Scrutinizing all shoes that enter our household, even while still on a visitor’s feet
- Examining the interior of any rooms or cupboards usually unavailable to him
- Disposing of flies
- Testing his humans’ Emergency Response System by performing daredevil acts on the second floor balcony
- Reminding whichever human happens to be in the kitchen at meal time what their primary purpose is (he does this first by sitting patiently near the human’s feet, then by rubbing the length of his body against the human’s ankles, and finally, if the human still isn’t getting it and requires disciplinary action, by stretching his front paws up as high as he can reach on the human’s leg and gently biting the human’s knee)
- Keeping a close eye on the housecleaner and performing spot inspections of her tools
- Monitoring the loading and unloading of the dishwasher
- Administering the assembly and installation of new furniture
- Inspecting the laundry
- Assessing the sinks
Allergenicity
So far, I am not allergic to the kitten. I mean, if I pet him and immediately rub my eye and get cat hair in my eye, my eye will get itchy and red. But that’s IT. I am so incredibly grateful for this. After yearning to have a cat for decades, I finally have one and it feels like a miracle.
Toys
When you are a kitten, everything is a toy. A current favorite is the unlucky wool dryer ball that dropped out of a pile of clothing and into the kitten’s line of sight.
State of Purr
When the kitten first joined our household, he purred near constantly. I wonder if some of the purring was born of anxiety from being extracted from his family of origin and deposited in a new house with strangers. He no longer feels the need to purr at all times. But he still has a roaring, appreciative, sometimes intense-to-the-point-of-chirping, purr that he deploys frequently when:
- we return home from being anywhere, including the backyard where he can see us at all times
- someone begins to prepare his food
- it’s cuddle time (not to be confused with play time, during which he will submit to being held but will decline to purr)
Daily Routine
We are slowly developing a routine of sorts. One that will get thrown into disarray, I’m sure, when Carla returns to school.
- 6:30: Breakfast with Mom.
- 6:45: Help Mom clean the litter box. Sometimes he will interrupt his own breakfast to ensure that Mom is doing the job appropriately.
- 7:00: PLAY.
- 7:10: Wait a second, that’s not enough playing! MORE PLAYING.
- 7:30: Help Mom wake up Carla, which involves intense purring and then falling asleep in Carla’s bed.
- 7:45-11:30: Combination of sleeping or playing, based on some internal schedule his humans don’t fully understand. Join Mom in her office where she pays way too much attention to that clicky rectangle.
- 11:30: Eat lunch!
- 11:45: PLAY!!!!!!
- 12:00: Seriously, that’s not enough play time.
- 12:30: Cuddle with Mom, which involves thunderous purring and falling asleep.
- 1:00-6:30: Mainly sleeping, with some occasional interludes of play.
- 6:30: It is DINNER TIME, PEOPLE. Get it together.
- 7:00: PLAY!!!!!! and/or entertain the humans with his antics if they are sitting down to dinner at this time.
- 8:30: Accompany adult humans to Carla’s room, take up spot of honor between the pillows, and commence full-body purring.
- 9:00-3:00: Sleep in a cinnamon roll shape on Carla’s bed.
- 3:00: Awaken to Mom removing him from Carla’s room and closing her door so he can’t see her probably ever again. Despite the disturbance, initiate appreciative purrs for encountering a human at this time of night.
- 3:03-5:00: More sleeping.
- 5:00-6:30: TIME TO EXPLORE AND PLAY!!!!
Evidence of Brilliance
The kitten:
- Plays air hockey
- Plays fetch
- Communicates his needs (his water spilled, a plant tipped over, his spiral got stuck under the oven, he wants to play with the wand toy but it’s on top of the bookcase) via a combination of meowing, sitting, and leading his humans to whatever needs their attention
- Sits on command
- Comes when called
Regularly Uttered Phrases
The kitten isn’t, so far, a big talker. But we talk to him (and about him) a lot.
“Why are you so pretty?!”
“Where’s the cat?”
“Oh, hi, cat!”
“Where’s your spiral, Buddy?”
“He’s just a baby!”
“Leo, in this house, we don’t [climb on counters] [scratch the carpet] [climb on tables] [climb on desks].”
“Are you the cutest cat ever?”
“Whatcha doing, Buddy?”
“Excuse me! Are you supposed to be doing that?!”
“Who’s the best kitten?”
“Such a seepy eepy weepy baby!”
“Yes, you are so fierce. The fiercest babycat I’ve ever seen.”
“What is the cat doing?”
“Biiiiiig stretch!!!”
“Biiiiiig yawn!!!”
“Leave Rocky alone, Leo.”
“Where’s my purr?”
“There’s my purr cat!”
“Are you so happy???”
“Good job, Buddy!”
“You’re so perfect.”
“We need a kitten for our kitten.”
