The Afternoon Routine

When I come home from work, Apricot and I have a routine we go through. I enjoy it very much, but with the kittens arriving in 8 days, I won't have this much longer. So I thought I'd record it so I'll remember it.

So, I come in the door and do two things: hang up my keys and reset the alarm system. It depends how clumsy I am which one gets done first. Sometimes I drop the keys and then I don't have time to pick them up and attempt another shot at the hanger before the alarm system runs out of time. And at some point in there, I announce loudly to the house that "Apricot, I'm home."

After the alarm system has been reset, I go back to standing by the door in order to get my shoes off. In an effort to fit flexibility exercises into my day, I bend at the waist to untie my shoes. This means that when Apricot wanders into the kitchen, I see him "upside down."

I started calling him my upside down kitty because it amused my fancy. Well, now that phrase means that I want him to come over while I'm untying my shoes so I can pet him. If he's all sleepy and stretching and taking his good old time getting to me, I ask, "are you gonna be my upside-down kitty?" and he'll leave off the stretching and come bouncing over to me. (I really wonder what Thimble and Colby will make of this. I expect Apricot will eventually do it in front of them, as he gets used to their presence and slips back into our pattern.)

Then I pet him while still flipped over at the waist, and he sniffs my shoes and anything else I brought into the house. Before it got cold, we'd proceed directly to my favorite part, but now I have to put my slippers and thick socks on right after I remove the shoes or my feet get cold (and then they stay that way, even if I do put the slippers and socks on).

So he waits impatiently while I do that. Then I've also starting getting my hands a little bit wet at the sink in order to remove the static potential when I pet him. Neither of us appreciate getting shocked! (I liked summer better. I didn't have to do all this extra stuff. And my legs were bare so he could rub his furry side against my shins. That felt all nice and fuzzy!)

And now my favorite part. I sit down with my back against the pantry (so I can lean on it when I get tired) and sit in a fake splits position. I say fake because I can't do splits. I can only do squares. (IE, my legs make a 90 degree angle away from me.) Apricot comes right up close to me and I pet him.

For as long as he wants. Which if I've been gone all day, can be five to ten minutes, a long time for him. He prefers to recharge his love battery with multiple short interactions throughout the day, but when I've been gone all day, he's almost running on empty, and it takes a while to fill back up.

While I pet him I concentrate on the feel of his soft fur beneath my fingers, the way his chin feels when I rub it (he loves that), the color variations of red and orange in his tabby fur ... just letting the tension of the day drain away, absorbed by the intense concentration on everything that makes up Apricot. He often presses into me, trying to get as close as possible. I first started sitting that way because he was uncomfortable standing on my legs. Now I sit that way because he wants me to.

Eventually he wants to leave (he indicates this by getting up and making motions as if to walk away, but he's not serious yet about it because he knows what comes next), and then I get a hug. I pick him him and cuddle him against my chest, with my knees drawn up to make a cozy safe surround for him, and I kiss the top of his head and smell his fur. I love the smell of kitty fur especially around their necks. Apparently this may be a kitty to kitty thing, because Apricot has never thought it was strange that I do this, and there are many human things that he's had to get used to but let me know it was strange.

And then I put him down (usually so he has to climb across my leg to leave) and he strolls calmly away, often right around the corner into the living room where he lies against the wall and watches me from a safe distance as I put all the stuff away, whether it be just my work stuff or whether I brought home bags from stores. He's learned I don't always pay attention to where I walk.

After I finish putting stuff away we both go into the other end of the house to the bedroom. This is where things get strange.

You know how cats like a clean litterbox and often will wait until right after you clean it and then go in the newly clean litterbox? Apricot knows I clean the litter box at this point in the day (second time in the day; I clean it when I get up, too). But he'll make sure he goes in it right before I clean it.

I had to think about this for a while before I figured it out. The whole point to the clean litter box thing is so predators can't find them by the smell. Since Apricot has actually experienced living in the wild, he has a less instinctive and more real-life experience approach to the litter box use. He's noticed that when I clean it, I put the smelly part in a bucket with a lid that keeps it from smelling. (Now according to my nose, it doesn't really smell that much less in the bucket than it does in the litter box, but I do notice a slight difference, which means he notices a much bigger difference.)

So if he goes right before I put all the clumps into the bucket and put the lid back on the bucket, the litter box won't smell hardly at all (to him) of what could draw a predator to that spot. Smart kitty!

It's also very nice and convenient for me. Because it does smell less when it's all in the bucket, and that way the box is clean for longer. (Apricot's probably going to consider Colby and Thimble to be very reckless kitties when it comes to litter box behavior. Hopefully their youth will excuse them in his eyes. He might even teach them his own habits about using the box ... that would really be nice.)

Apricot's actually come and gotten me (by staring at me and then walking off a little, stare and walk, come on, follow the kitty) when his poop is extra smelly and wanted to me to clean it up. I'm glad to do it. Get it sealed away before the smell gets out of the bathroom. Luckily this doesn't happen often. His digestive system is usually quite efficient.

But also while we're in the bedroom, I'm changing into something more comfortable (and warmer, now that it's winter, because I won't be moving about as much as I do at work), and he's having his pre-supper snack.

Then we both go back into the living room and Apricot sees me settled in someplace (usually the settee) and he'll settle into a location of his own. Sometimes he hasn't quite gotten enough affection (perhaps he got distracted by the grocery bags), and he'll want me to come pet him some more before we settle into our afternoon stuff-to-do. So I pet him some more.

I've discovered that if you pet Apricot whenever he asks, and then also when he hasn't asked, that he regards me with even more affection and asks more often to be petted. I mostly let Pippin determine when he wanted to be petted, but as a result, I didn't get asked for pets very often. So I tried to be different with Apricot and pet him lots and lots, just brief interactions but a lot of them. And he's responded by becoming the most physically affectionate cat I've ever met.

Sometimes it takes me twice as long to walk through the house because I stop and pet him four or five times from one end of the house to the other. And sometimes he doesn't come with me, and I wonder what's going on, until he runs past me at full speed and skids to a stop in front of me. This is his version of ambush now. I always say "eek" in a quiet voice (because really being startled would scare him) and say in happy voice, "you ambushed me!"

He likes this game. And sometimes I am walking down the hall without him and I wonder out-loud, "Are you gonna ambush me?" and then I get an orange streak running past me and practically giggling with fun.

I do hope he stays fun and happy and affectionate, even with Colby and Thimble to compete with. And I hope I can manage to give all of them the affection they need. Hopefully they will have different patterns of how and when they want it, so I'm not overwhelmed by three at a time. I only have two hands!