January/February Yarncraft Recap

Girl's dress in colors that wouldn't have been my first choice, but I had on hand and still look nice together:



Rainbow-inspired ripple skirt, modeled by Leia:

Operation Keep Mommy In Bed

I woke up this morning, shortly before my alarm went off, to all three boys curled up together by my legs. As soon as my alarm went off and I hit snooze, Luke came right up for some pets, so he got lots of head scritches. When I tired of that, he returned to his brothers and he and Han engaged in some mutual face-grooming. Nibbler was pretty out of it, but as soon as I began to stroke him, his purr machine started. When I started petting Luke again, his purrs joined Nibbler's. Han was a little less interested in pets then, so no purr from him.

After a while (and a couple times hitting the snooze button), I figured that I probably should get up, so I sat up a little and told the boys that. Immediately, Luke and Han got up (leaving very sleepy Nibbler) and came right up to me, almost demanding pets. Of course I had to oblige them and lay down to pet them. Trying to get up again, I rolled onto my back and stretched, with one hand above my head. Luke ran right up to that hand so that I could continue to pet him! Then when I moved my hand back down, he followed and flumped down in front of me, necessitating the giving of more pets before I was finally able to stop petting them and get up!

Of course, this sort of thing happens only when Elijah is gone, as the boys feel more comfortable with me (and always have). But it is progress, as previously, my sitting up in the bed would be cause enough for the twins to bolt out of the room. Having them approach me instead is a big step!

The Ignoring of Han and Luke

We continue to have problems with the twins, as their nervousness and fearfulness continues. It got a little better after we got back from winter break (we were away for two weeks), but progress since we got them (a year and a half now; they're almost two years old) has been very slow. We got a recommendation to talk to Sue, a woman who runs a cat sanctuary in the area and specializes in rehabilitating cats who are feral, semi-feral, and fearful, and after some phone tag-like situations, finally met her and had her come over to meet Luke and Han. She was surprised by how fearful they really are, since male cats are generally more adaptable than females, and we got them when they were four months old, so they weren't really that old yet, and she would have expected them to relax a little more than they have.

Han (curled up) with little brother Nibbler:


I did post an ad for them on Petfinder, figuring if we can get them a nice, quiet home where they might be more comfortable, it would be better for them than here, since it's not the most peaceful place (much as I try, it's hard to keep up with clutter and such), but they're not going anywhere unless I'm relatively sure that they'll be in a better place. In the meantime, we're willing to try Sue's suggestion- ignore them unless they approach us, to basically just let them do what they feel comfortable with and not force anything on them. It's been a few days now, and they already seem a little calmer. Hopefully they'll realize (and I've been saying this since we got them) that we're not going to hurt them, and that this home is a safe place. Anyway, it won't hurt them, since they can still come to us for affection (and they've been snuggling with me in bed in the morning and sometimes come to me for pets when I'm at the computer or in the bathroom), and we can still enjoy Nibbler and Leia. Next week, I'm away for a few days (spring break) while Elijah stays home with the cats, so we'll see what that brings.

Supreme Fuzzler

I was remiss in my last post (which I know was quite a while ago; life has a way of knocking you down for no good reason sometimes) in that I neglected to mention a new member of our family: another black boycat, whom we named Wicket (to continue to the Star Wars theme). We got him just before Halloween, so it really has been a while.



It took about a week for Leia to get used to having him around, and about another week after that before they really became playmates. Now, though, it's clear that they have a very similar energy level and are great together- they wrestle, chase, and compete for toys and treats (Wicket usually wins).



It also became apparent that he's very mouthy, eating ANYTHING that he can get his paws on, and licking most other things! So in light of that, and because he didn't really respond to the name Wicket, we decided to rename him Nibbler, after the Futurama character. He seems a bit happier with the new name, and also the new (orange, to match his collar) bow tie tag that I got him with his new name. So henceforth, Wicket shall be referred to as Nibbler. And Elijah's just thrilled that we have a cat who loves him as much as me. When Nibbler hears Elijah come home, he often runs to the door to greet him (though more often than not, he gets sidetracked by the food dish, little piglet that he is).

Catnip!

Here's another photo series, cleverly entitled, "Catnip".

In which Han decides that maybe life isn't so bad after all

Here's a series of photos which shows that Han isn't always hiding and running away from us, but is really a hedonist at heart:








Purr.

Apartment!

As I alluded to earlier, in mid-June we moved into a new apartment. We had been living just out of town (near Elijah's parents, which was nice), but our new place is in town, close to Safeway, PetSmart, our vet, and lots of other places that are handy to have nearby. It also cuts Elijah's drive to work in half, at least.

Besides the location, we love the new place! It's bigger, and in a nice little area. It is an apartment, but townhome-style, so we have two floors (I love having two floors- stairs are nice to have for exercise that you don't even notice, and the cats love them), and the apartment complex has four buildings with four apartments each. We're lucky enough to have a unit on the end of a building, so we have only one direct neighbor. (After living in an apartment last summer with neighbors on all sides and sharing a hallway with everyone else on the floor, it's so much nicer to almost have our own building, with our own front and back doors.) The four buildings are in a square, with a nice little courtyard in the middle, easily accessible through our back door (while we have two dedicated parking spots in front of our front door).



It's a pet-friendly place, so there are always people taking their dogs outside, which the cats love to watch from the wide windowsill of the big window in the living room overlooking the courtyard. The boys, although they are getting better in many ways, still don't like to leave their comfort zone, so they don't like going outside (although sometimes I make them go outside on a leash and in a mesh cat tent, mean mommy that I am).



Leia, on the other hand, loooooves going outside, and will often dash out when I open the door to leave or return home. I take her outside often, and she's good about not straying too far and listening to me when I call her, so I usually don't bother to make her wear her harness and leash. And it turns out that she loves dogs! She's made friends with many of the neighbor dogs (at least, the ones that are good with cats). Our next-door-across-the-walk neighbor has three dogs, and their American Pitbull and Leia are best friends. They get excited when they see each other, and run right up for a greeting sniff. She's also friends with another neighbor's two dachshunds, one of which is bigger than she is, but the other is smaller. They're energetic and jump a little sometimes, but they're very sweet.



When I drag Leia back inside, one of her favorite places is on the couch. Our living room is so large that we have room for two loveseats and the tall cat tower. The small cat tower is upstairs in the computer room, where the cats like to hang out with us. The boys often curl up under my desk, while Leia prefers sitting in the window over the desks.



No pictures of the apartment itself, but I will leave you with these pictures of what can happen when you leave toilet paper on the roll in the bathroom:


"I didn't do it!"


"Am I in trouble?"

Middle Child Syndrome

Luke has it.

Now, with the recognition that my cats are cats and not people, my cats have very definite family birth-order personalities: Han is the older brother, brave, confident, a mama's boy, but in the sense that he wants to take care of me. He looks after his brother and sister, if someone's sneezing or throwing up, he goes over to make sure that they're okay, with the sweetest little concerned look. If I put someone in time out (either shut in the bathroom or in the cat carrier), he won't leave them alone, because he knows that something's wrong.

Leia is the baby sister. She's the darling, the sweet, soft, cuddle girl who loooooves to play and will push her brothers aside for a toy or a treat. She's somewhat of a favorite for Elijah and me, because she's so much more willing to cuddle and interact.

Although Han and Luke are twins, Luke's personality is definitely that of the middle child. He's not as brave or confident as either sibling; he's a 'fraidy-cat. I got them a new water fountain yesterday, and when I brought him over to see it, he struggled out of my arms and ran away to hide. He spends a lot of time hiding in caves, or anywhere where it's harder to get him out.

I've been working on toilet-training them, and it's actually going pretty well- we're down to the intermediate green ring on the Litter Kwitter (step 4 out of 6, essentially), and the cats are generally pretty good about using the toilet. We keep Leia in the bathroom at night, because if we don't, we tend to find poop in awkward places. A few nights ago, we put all three cats in the bathroom overnight, because the boys had been acting up at night (wrestling on the bed when we're trying to sleep, bringing toys onto the bed, taking things off my desk). Luke seemed to take offense at being shut in the bathroom, since he's started peeing outside the bathroom- on bags, backpacks, etc. Last night was just Luke and Leia in the bathroom; since Han had been good (he had a great day- he actually asked to go outside, and once outside, he even did some exploring!), he got to stay out with me. When I got up to use the toilet in the middle of the night, Luke escaped, and I had to chase him around the house twice before I could catch him to put him back.

It's a bit of tough love, but I'm going to win this. Luke thinks that he can win ("Well, if you put me in the bathroom all night, I'm going to pee on your stuff, so there!"), but I've told him that he'll stay in the bathroom at night until he stops doing that. Unlike his forgiving baby sister, middle child Luke seems to hold grudges.

May Trip Home

So at the beginning of the month, I took a week-long trip home. It was a really nice break from the stress of work, I got to spend time with my parents and see a few friends, and my parents and I got a bit of wedding planning done. I left Elijah at home with the cats, which seemed to help the boys bond with him a bit more, since I wasn't around and they had to rely on him exclusively. Of course, I still missed them all. The cats were very glad when I finally came home.

I also made it up to Wheaton for the Interfaith Alliance's fifth annual Holi, which is a Hindu holiday celebrating the coming of spring by throwing colored powder and water at each other.



I was hoping that I would get to see more friends at Wheaton, but I didn't see as many as I would have liked. I did get to talk to a few professors, though, and saw a couple other friends at home over the course of the week. One day, I drove up to visit a friend who transferred from Wheaton at his school, and I brought another friend with me. The two got along quite well, and the three of us, along with my friend's roommate, played Star Trek Trivia.

That Saturday was another annual event, headed by my elementary school music teacher, a maypole celebration. I've been playing recorder for it for... 13 years now. It used to be weaving the maypole, and two folk dances (and I played recorder for all of those), but for the past two years, she's had to cut it down to just the maypole. My cousin, her husband, and their 3-year-old son came down for it- my cousin and my mom helped to weave the maypole, and my little cousin, being too small, got to be one of the kids who sit on the base to stabilize the pole. Afterwards, we took him across the street to the fire station, as he looooves cars in general, and fire trucks in particular.

My parents and I met with the caterer for the wedding, which was good, as my parents had already met with them once, but I hadn't met them yet. We worked out most of the details, and they gave us a list of bands and photographers that my parents are starting to look at.

The last highlight of the trip was Mother's Day, and I gave my mom a Scotty (from Star Trek) action figure and a knitted sunhat, which she really seemed to like:

Happy Birthday

to Han and Luke! They are one year old now, and we've had them for eight months. When we got them, they were just little four-month-olds, tiny little balls of fur:



Now they are strapping young cats, but still just as cute and handsome:



My boys have grown a lot, matured a lot, and come a long way. I'm proud of how far they've come! Being rescue cats, they had some issues before they ever met us, and although they're not the relaxed, comfortable cats that I want them to be, they really are so much better than they used to be.


Han is the big boy- not fat, but solid. He's lost some of the interest in playing that he used to have (he used to play with anything dangly), but he still loves his fuzzy mice. He's a cuddler, and usually sleeps on my feet or leaning against my legs at night. He also likes to burrow under the covers on the bed, and will snuggle in my arms when I get into bed. He's actually pretty protective of me, always wanting to make sure that I'm okay, whether it's following me into the bathroom or keeping me company when I'm taking a nap. He's a lap hog, sometimes pushing his siblings out of the way so that he has the best part of my lap (the inside, against my stomach). He's very picky about food- I feed them mush on occasion, and he really only likes the chicken. One time when I gave him turkey, he sniffed it, fixed me with a look of "Mom. I like CHICKEN, not TURKEY!" and walked away.


Luke is sensitive, intelligent, and innocent-faced. He has big round eyes that make him look much younger than his heavy-lidded-eyed brother. While Han's definitely a mama's boy, Luke is just lovey, and enjoys sitting on Elijah's lap and getting pets. He's very treat-oriented, and gets excited every time he hears shaking (even when it's not a treat can/bag, oops). He likes snuggling, but not for very long, he's more fidgety than Han. He likes to keep me company when I'm getting ready for bed. He's more playful, loves the laser pointer, and likes chasing most toys. He likes eating catnip before he rolls in it.

I know that I post a lot about Leia, and that's because she's more photogenic and outgoing, so there's usually more to say about her, but she's only one-third of the feline part of the household. My boys are wonderful big brothers, snuggling and playing with her.



My boys.

It's a Beautiful Day

So I decided to take the cats outside for a bit. Last time I tried, it was a complete disaster, with Luke and Han panicking before we even got out the door. I had figured that being together would reassure them, but this time, it seemed only to make them feed off each other's fear. They were flailing and thrashing, trying to get free of the harness that was holding them, and when I let them go, they bolted into the bedroom to hide.

This time, I decided to take them one at a time. First, of course, was Leia- because she wants to go out, and we did a lap around the house, slowly, exploring everything. She loves being outside (at least when it's not cold and gusty), and really can't get enough of being outside before I want to go in. But I won't let her off the leash, at least not yet, because she gets so wrapped up in everything that's outside that she doesn't listen to me, and I don't want her to go somewhere she shouldn't where I can't get to her. So, leash it is.

Next up was Luke. I didn't give him the option of going outside or not, I just carried him outside (on the sunny side of the house) and put him down on the thick bed of pine needles. He wanted to cower and hide, but I kept him in the open area. If I squatted down, he would try to hide under me, and otherwise, he wanted to be as close to the side of the house as he could be. I just kept picking him up and putting him in the open. I want him to learn that being outside is not that scary. He did really well- I could tell that he was scared, but he didn't panic, and when I brought him back inside, he was fairly calm while I took off his harness, and then when it was off and I told him he could go, he ran- but didn't bolt- back to the living room.


Then it was Han's turn (although Leia disagreed; she wanted to go out again), and I dealt with him the same way as I did with Luke. He was a little less afraid, and more uncertain- I put him down on the ground, and he didn't want to immediately hide, but he had no idea what he was supposed to do. He was sniffing the air though, which is good. After we were out for a little while, Elijah put Leia's harness back on and brought her outside again, so she got some more fresh air and sunshine. A little while later, I let Han go back inside (he reacted the same way Luke did, waiting calmly until I got the harness off and let him go), and then soon after, I took Leia back inside, despite her protests.


It was a successful trip outside, judging not in the least by the way the boys aren't cowering and hiding, but lounging in their usual spots.


As for other successful things, here's my breakfast yesterday, a fried egg and cheese sandwich, on rosemary sourdough bread (not homemade this time).
Cooking:

Done:

Plated:

Yum!

A Leia Post

Leia would like to share with you this very important information.

Listen to me!


Ribbons.


The ribbons are all mine.

Shiny ribbons.


Long brown ribbons.


Colorful ribbons.


My favorite, pink (and black) ribbons.


They are all MINE!


MINE MINE MINE!


MIIIIIINE!!!!!!


Yum.