Playing Baby

Remember when I introduced Mercury and I mentioned it would only be a matter of time before the girls had him riding in their baby doll strollers?  Well...

Okay, it's the baby doll crib not the stroller, but close enough.  In my kids' defense, however, they only put him in there one time.  He now gets in their on his own to take a snooze.  This is much to the delight of all three of my girls.  Their own live baby doll.  This cat was made for our family.

Figuring It Out Already

As I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes on Saturday morning, Lana was playing and laughing at Mercury.  Being a kitten, he's always doing something that isn't the smartest, which leads him to do things like fall off chairs, fall off the bench seat, run into a wall....  Don't worry, he doesn't get hurt and it's always funny to watch.  


I think that morning he was between chasing a fly, and jumping on the table which led me to squirt him with the water bottle.   I love this cat, because he is so loving and more dog like than any cat I've met.      Andy even pointed out that he wags his tail more like a dog than a cat.  Jazz was all cat.  She would decide when you could pet her and when she was done she was done, and you sure as hell better walk away if you valued keeping your skin unscratched.  Mercury, on the other hand, is always up for some attention.  Sometimes to the point of being annoying like some dogs can be.   However, Jazz was very smart.  Andy even taught her a couple of tricks like how to meow back whenever he said "hi" to her.  She knew not to jump on the tables or it meant getting squirted.  I've all but soaked Mercury with the water bottle and ten seconds later he's right back up there daring me to pull the trigger.  Now, perhaps some of this is because he is still just a baby.  Or maybe it's because he is a little more dog like and they can be slow to learn too.  But I think it may just be what Lana said to me on Saturday morning.  


"Mommy, why does Mercury do that?  Did Jazz do that?"  She was referring to his constant jumping on the table and getting sprayed.  


"No, Mercury is a little dopey right now about things like that, probably because he's a kitten."  I told her.  


She replied back, "Yeah, and also because boys are more dopey than girls."


That's right Lana, and don't you forget it!

Mercury Rising

Ever since we had to put Jazz to sleep back in November, the entire family has been longing for a  kitty.  Well, SOME of us want a dog AND a kitty, but we won't go there with that argument right now.      Andy was probably worse than the girls, continuously asking when we were going to get a kitten.  The problem was, there weren't any kittens to adopt.  That whole, animals having babies in the spring thing, is not just something Disney made up.  Turns out that most kittens are born in the spring and summer.  Our good friend Cecelia volunteers a the Burbank Animal Shelter on the weekends, and fosters kittens at her house when they come in.  Andy had me constantly asking her if she had any kittens yet.  Finally, one day at the beginning of May, she sent me an email letting me know that she had three little kittens.   The Dadekians were about to adopt a new member of the family.


The three kittens Cecelia took in were part of a litter of seven.  They had been found in a box on the doorstep of the shelter.  Well, at least someone took them to the shelter anyway.  They were only about four weeks and still needed their mom, but since she was nowhere to be found, they needed  foster care instead.  That's where Cecelia came in.  She took three of the seven and cared for them for the next five weeks.  She had to get up several times a night to feed them and make sure they ate, because they weren't quite at the point where they could do it on their own.  They got sick for a bit with a stomach virus, so we couldn't see them at right away.  After a couple weeks they were doing well, and we got a chance to go visit with them.  Andy went alone first, to get a feel for them and see which one might fit best with us.  


At first he was drawn to a grey boy tabby, Cecelia had name Kappie.  He was huge, as far as kittens go, and reached his two pound adopting status a week and a half before the others did.   There was an all black girl kitten named Pippa, and then there was the grey and white boy who's original name was Valentine.  He was the smallest of the three and probably the runt of the entire litter. 


We took the girls over one afternoon to visit with them.  They were all very friendly, didn't mind the girls at all and were playful.  Andy was still thinking Kappie was the one we wanted, but I had a feeling when this happened:

that this one was the kitty for us.  I decided to leave the decision up to  Andy though, because he's the cat person in the family and the one that took losing Jazz the hardest.  I wanted him to feel that he picked the one he wanted.  The girls didn't really care, they just wanted a kitten.  Lana, however, wanted Mercury/Valentine, because he was so snuggly with her.  At that point though Kappie was the one we were going with.  We had to wait for him to be neutered and over the next week  Andy started having second thoughts on which one to get.  He tried a couple times to convince me to get two, but that was just not happening.  First of all I'm actually allergic to cats.  However, after being around one for a while, I get used to it and am fine.  That is what happened with Jazz.  I felt like two cats would make it hard for me to breathe for an entire month.  Not to mention I'm the one who takes care of the fun things like the litter box, and the vacuuming all the cat hair.  I'm not really up for cleaning twice the poop.  Plus I still haven't given up on my dreams of having a dog. 


So we went back and forth for a while on which one to get.  I did like Kappie, but he was so independent and big already.  Was he going to be willing to let three little girls play with him?  Pippa was adorable and sweet, but she looked like he might be a long haired cat and again, because of my allergies, I feared that would make them worse.  Besides, we have enough females in our house and I really wanted to get a boy.  


Andy decided to go over one evening by himself to play with them again and make a final decision.  When he came home it was the little grey and white runt who won out.  We had to wait another week to get him, because he had just reached two pounds and hadn't been fixed yet.  When we finally got him, we only had him for two days before we had to turn around and give him back to Cecelia to take care of while we went to Florida.  Andy and I felt bad about that, but he warmed up to the girls and our house in the two days.  Hopefully he would remember us when we got back.  


Turns out he did.  He was comfortable in our house again within an hour of coming back.  The girls, as you can imagine, are obsessed with him and constantly want to hold him or play with him.  The unfortunate part about this is it's created another thing for them to fight over.  Yay.


"You got to hold him already!  It's mmmyyyy tuuurrrnn!!"


"Nooooo!!  I'm not done!!"


This is just an example of how the last few days have been.  Mercury has handled it well.  He doesn't really run or hide from them.  Maybe every once in a while, when he's really tired and wants to sleep, but for the most part he seeks THEM out.  He meows down the hallway until he finds someone to pick him up and give him attention.  He is very cuddly with all of us and loves to be held, and pet.  Although he is a crazy kitten and has a TON of energy.  Not so much fun at 2:30 in the morning. 

Must attack shoes!

 As much as I loved Jazz, she was never all that fond of the girls.  At least not in a playful, let them pick her up kind of way.  I know that has more to do with the fact that she was here before they were. It is better for us to have an animal that is coming into a kid situation.  I feel like he might be more friendly because of it.  As long as my girls don't completely torture him.  Don't worry, I won't let that happen!

It was two days ago when I  realized we had made the right decision in adopting this particular kitten.  Lana and Georgia were sitting on the couch next to each other, and instead of fighting over him, they had worked out a simple plan so they could both have time to hold him.  Sitting Indian style on the couch, one of them would hold him in her lap and then count to ten.  After the ten count she would pass Mercury to her sister who would also hold him to the count of ten.  I peeked in on them after a couple rounds of this and and told them they needed to let him go if he wanted to.  I said they shouldn't be holding him if he wants off their laps and wants to go.


"But, Mommy!  He's fine, see!"  Lana assured me.  She sat back with her hands off of him and he kind of leaned back on to her and looked at me with an, "I'm good" look.  There was not even the slightest attempt to run.  

Yup, he's going to fit in with us just fine.  I only hope he doesn't mind baby doll clothes and being pushed in a stroller.  I can only imagine that scene is not to far away.