So yesterday, Fred woke me up by bringing the kittens out of their room and putting them on the bed with me. Neither of them was interested in snuggling up, because there was room to explore, and they both hopped down off the bed immediately to sniff around. I let them run around while I got up and got dressed and made the bed and all that stuff, then put them back in their room.
They weren’t thrilled about being stuck back in that room, as I’m sure you can imagine.
A while later, after I’d exercised and eaten breakfast and was about to head upstairs and take my shower, Fred said “We should let the kittens out to run around…” and then came upstairs with me, and we did just that. Fred sat at the top of the stairs to prevent them from going downstairs, and I sat on the landing, and the kittens ran around and sniffed wildly, and Mister Boogers came out and growled and hissed and smacked at them, and just generally acted like a jerk. We let them run around for ten or fifteen minutes, and then put them back in the room and shut the door.
After I took my shower, Fred said something like “If our cats could get acclimated to them, I’d have no problem letting them run around the house, as long as we kept the cat door shut.”
I about fell over, because I never thought Fred would go for that; in fact, it had occurred to me to mention the idea to him, but I didn’t because I’d been sure he’d shoot down the idea. After lunch he shut the cat door and went up and let them out of their room, and they were just as happy as they could be, running around and sniffing and playing and having their behinds sniffed by Mister Boogers. We let them stay out for a couple of hours, and then they started acting tired, but just couldn’t seem to settle down. I was sitting in the chair in the computer room, reading Harry Potter, and Rambo would climb up on me and settle down, then his attention would be caught by one of the other cats and he’d go running off.
(It was while I was reading Harry Potter and petting Rambo that I came up with the perfect name for him – Dobby. Too bad he’s already named, huh? Doesn’t matter, Fred’s been calling him “Bubba” and Jodie “Miss Squeaks”.)
When they’d both been wandering around making sad little meows for a while, I suggested to Fred that we should put them in their room for a little while so they could settle down, then let them out around 6:30 and let them stay out until we headed upstairs at 9:00. He agreed with that, and I ran them upstairs and left them in their room.
Fred couldn’t wait until 6:30, though. He went upstairs at 5:30 and let them out again, and we let them stay out until 9:00, as planned. It went pretty well, though Miz Poo smacked at each of them more than once, and Mister Boogers made his growly-hissy noise that scares NO ONE. Spot hid under my desk, and Spanky actually smacked one of the kittens, which surprised me – I’d expected him to run from them.
I think I’ll wait until I’ve had my shower and vacuumed the upstairs to let them out this morning, partly because I don’t want to scare them with the vacuum, and partly because Mister Boogers is running in and out a lot this morning and I don’t want to shut the cat door just yet.
I think it’s hilarious that Fred said to me, yesterday, “This is just going to make giving them up harder, because you’ll be even more attached to them.”
“I’ll be more attached to them?” I said.
“Yeah, you will because they’ll be out and around you more.”
“Who’s the one who couldn’t wait ’til 6:30 and had to run up and let them out an hour earlier?” I pointed out.
He had no good response to that.
They’re SPOONING. How cute is that?
This is not the sight Mister Boogers likes to see when he first wakes up.
“Hi! Hi! See my spotted belly? Hi!”
That ain’t a look o’ love Mister Boogers is giving those kittens, who are sleeping in HIS BED.
Rambo climbed up on top of the giveaway box and promptly began biting a book. He’s a biter, that one.