Well, That Was Unexpected

This morning Apricot hid under the headboard for an hour or so. I didn't go for my walk right away, so I was around for all this. But he was relaxed and stretched out, and while Thimble and Colby knew he was there, they left him alone, for about an hour. And then they went in and got him.

Not "got" him, they just went in and let him know they wanted to play and would he join them, and he came out and did so.

This playtime was rather ... amazing to me. First, Colby comes by Apricot at a half-run and reaches out a paw to touch Apricot on the shoulder. He had to nearly tip himself over sideways because Apricot's a few inches taller than he is right now, but he made actual contact.

Apricot didn't even flinch.

And then, a little later, Apricot's studies of the Rowdy Boys paid off. He pounced Colby. Apricot actually jumped on Colby and they went rolling over and over together, having fun. Neither cat said anything vocally, which means it wasn't a fight. It lasted only a little time, maybe fifteen seconds before they broke apart, and I swear they were both grinning.

When the Rowdy Boys do this, they become a single mass of black and white and brown kitty fur, with extra legs and tails and heads. When Apricot pounced Colby, and they rolled over and over, Colby's black and white would vanish completely beneath the red tabby colors of Apricot, and then re-emerge, nothing daunted.

I guess I was wrong when I said Apricot didn't want to play as physically as they did. He just needed to figure out the rules and study them for a while, figure out what got a "stop that" squeak from one of them to the other, before he decided to try to participate.

Perhaps he and Colby will become good buddies. They can commiserate over Thimble being bossy!

***

Thimble decided later in the day to play fetch with me. He'd bring me a toy, and I would toss it, and he'd tear after it and grab it and bring it back. It's a special toy that Ginger gave me, and she said it was custom made and she'd get me the info. I can believe it, about the custom make. I've never seen another toy like it. It ends up looking like a brown furry nothing, but it starts out with stovepipe cleaner legs with no head or tail.

Thimble's problem with fetch is that Colby often swipes the toy, and then Thimble is left with nothing to bring back. I told him he could bring another toy, but that's the kind he learned to fetch with and I suppose nothing else will do.

Then also, once Thimble dropped it so it went into the tiny space between my rear end and the back of the settee. I made the mistake of reaching for it behind my back, in order to not put my hand down in the space of Thimble's paws and toy. The fingers emerging from behind my back were so very interesting that ever after that, when he brought the toy back he'd deliberately drop it there in the hopes that I'd do it again. (Um, no, I realized that was a bad idea the second after I did it.)

I managed to get video of it, but you will have to excuse the shakiness; it's very hard to take a video while you're also part of the playtime!

Colby is so silly when he falls asleep. Thimble often is a bit more dignified, but today I managed to get a picture of both of them looking silly!

Thimble is not only sleeping with
his mouth open, but he's leaning
on my arm as well. Completely asleep.

However, today Apricot stole the show with the whole playing full-body play-fight with Colby. Unfortunately that happened so fast I didn't register "I should take a video of this" before it was over. Sigh.

Also, something I forgot to mention in my week's impressions post. They're hot. I'm always cold, but when the two of them fall asleep on me, I suddenly start regretting the layers of clothing I'm wearing. I had forgotten how hot kitten body temperature runs!