The New Afternoon Routine

When I come home from work, I do certain things in a certain order. This is the way it used to go, before the addition of the kittens.

The routine has fairly well stabilized now, and much to my surprise, the cuddling of Apricot is a part that stayed!

Apricot never waited in the kitchen. He thinks the outdoors is a living creature that just might reach through the open kitchen door, grab him, and sweep him out into the horrible outdoor life that he is so very happy to have escaped. He won't risk that happening by being near the door when it opens.

The kittens, on the other hand, have no such fear hampering them. Usually when I drive up, there is one or both of them waiting on the cat trees for me. By the time I get in, the odds have increased that it's both of them.

It's a good thing Thimble doesn't know I posted such a derp-y picture of him.

 Here they are both waiting in the same spot. In case you wondered where the rest of Colby is, I took a photo right after Thimble came down to be upside-down kitty, and here is where Colby was. Thimble sits on him quite often, and Colby only absent-mindedly protests, and sometimes doesn't bother.

Colby without Thimble on top.

So yes, Thimble has discovered upside-down kitty, and he thinks it is great fun. He mills around my feet as I take my jacket(s) off, and likes to pretend that he's going to play with my shoelaces (actually doing so gets him squirted, so that happens less and less now).

The first thing I do after saying hello to my greeters is yell "Apricot, I'm home" the way I always did, and he moseys slowly into the kitchen. He knows I have jacket(s) to hang up and a work bag to put down, and none of that interests him and some of it, the jacket that rustles due to the windbreaker layer, is rather alarming. Thus he takes his time.

Apricot still likes upside-down kitty, but by the time he comes into the room, both Thimble and usually Colby but not always, are around my feet. He has discovered that if he goes between me and the door (it's safely closed, and I'm there, so he is fine doing this) he can get a couple "upside-down kitty" pets in.

Sometimes he doesn't bother to brave the swirling maelstrom of happy kitten, and just lies down on the kitchen carpet to wait for me.

Since it's winter, I have to get my hands wet before a long petting session. Otherwise I make him all static-y and then we start shocking each other. This is not something either Apricot nor I enjoy!

Then I go sit down in the appropriate place and in the appropriate position, and Apricot wedges himself up against me and shoves his head into my waiting hand, while the free hand pets him.

Most of the time Colby is the patient one. He'll sit very close to Apricot, but not quite touching, and just watch. He has a wistful look on his face, and I think he's wishing that he were where Apricot is. Problem is, he doesn't have the patience to sit there that long like Apricot does. It's often five or ten minutes before Apricot is finished filling up his love-battery that's run dry with me gone all day.

I can tell how stressful the day has been for Apricot by how hard he leans into me. When I came home two hours later than usual this past Friday (work got bad), he was very stressed indeed and leaned very hard. I needed it just as much as he did. Petting him like that, concentrating only on him and the feel of his fur and the rough stumbly purr under my hands, helps me calm down from the day's stress and feel more like myself again.

Thimble is trying to be patient, I'll give him that. He's managing to wait longer than he did when this first happened around him. But he still loses all ability to wait and starts trying to climb into my arms, and who cares if he tramples Apricot in the process? (After all, Colby doesn't seem to mind.) Well, Apricot minds, and I do, so I try to discourage him.

After a while Apricot finally gets to the point where either he's done or Thimble's pestering is too much, and he leaves.

Then I scoop up Colby (unless he's left at the same time to have a row with Apricot) and reward him for being patient, and then Thimble. The day Thimble manages to be patient the whole time, I'll pick him up first. 

But often one of them will be wanting to play fight with Apricot. One day it was Thimble, and Colby and I watched, and I took a very long video that won't upload because it's too big, sorry. It's interesting to see how Apricot won't put his whole weight on the kitten, instead keeping at least one front paw on the floor to support himself (back paws are both on the floor, usually). And Apricot is very rarely the one underneath.

I saw why today. He was on the floor, half asleep, on his side. Colby pounced him, trying to get a playmate. Apricot, not wanting to be underneath, simply lifted Colby up and off of him with his back feet. He actually tossed Colby several inches away from himself, with a seemingly effortless move of his back legs. No wonder he doesn't usually let himself be the kitten underneath--he'd end the game far too quickly!

(And don't worry for Colby's play intentions; Apricot got up and went after the tossed kitten, and satisfied him with a quick play session, much to Colby's happiness.)

So the routine has changed less than I thought it would, and I'm very happy with the current situation. I'm aware that things will change as the kittens grow, however ... so we'll probably have a "new new" afternoon routine post sometime!