The boys have continued to grow, consuming a constant flow of kitten chow and canned cat food, and expelling a constant flow of kitten pee and poop. In between the trips to the litter boxes (there are two) they’ve been playing with each other intensely as well as with me and my wife. The way they leap about now, if they had wings like sugar gliders, they’d be literally flying around the house. Which I find simultaneously cute and frightening.

The Gingersnaps have also started wearing little kitten collars with bells. I had to bell these cats just so I can find them when they’re moving around, especially under the furniture, something they’ve instinctively done since the first day they came to live with us. Greebo is too busy tracking Ponder on the floor to properly model his collar, which is why the eyes are slitted and the head is a bit blurry. Right after this he made his pounce.

Both cats have also learned how to be held in my arms so that I can rub their briskets and stomachs. My oldest daughter and her boyfriend starting working with the boys when they were tiny kittens old enough to be held. When I hold them this way and rub them their purring goes up considerably. They love to be held this way as long as I’m calm and gentle and not aggressive. When I stopped long enough to use the Olympus to grab this shot, Ponder decided he wanted to swat at the lens; this is a mid-swat photo.

Some of their other little activities include:

• Their desire to give me lots of licks on my face. They both come up, sit on my chest, and groom my face. And of course they purr the whole time.
• Burrow under the covers. It’s been cold of late and they burrow under the covers to get next to me and warmth. That tends to freak me out when I’m sound asleep. So I carefully lift them out and put them in a “nest” made from part of the blanket next to me, where they go back to sleep.
• Chasing their toys all over the floor. Their favorites are round balls with a feather and a bell in the middle. Second favorite is a feather on the end of a string. Third is the laser pointer.

They’re still loving little guys. They’ve filled the void left by Lucy. I can’t forget little Lucy, but these guys are the perfect replacement. I almost let them slip past me; it’s a good thing I didn’t. It’s almost as if they were born just for me. I’m so glad they’re here.