The Little Ones in The First Half of 2008

I initially thought Emma would try to be the alpha of the group, and that Scout would probably let her. They all get along well now, but it’s also clear that Scout has firmly established herself as queen.

Seeing our Big Three get together reminded me of the famous photos of Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin at Yalta in 1945.

She did manage to get out of it earlier tonight, I heard a loud thump in the litter box room, then Emma came running out sans bib and I found the bib rubbed into some fresh droppings in the litter box.

She knows how to make a point, I'll give her that.

As I dropped Sam and Emma inside the door and turned around and saw Scout sitting alone on the porch, a wave of grief rushed over me at the thought that Templeton would never again join us. It was a ritual during the warmer months that the three of us would go into the backyard when I got home from work and stay outside until it got dark.

Fortunately Scout didn’t want to stay out long, as even though my moment of grief lasted only for a few seconds, it was so unexpected and so strong that it rattled me for the rest of the night.

On this occasion he wasn’t bashful about it, he grabbed her head with both front paws and went to work. It all went well until he got a little rambunctious with the sleepy Emma. Emma was sleeping in an Amazon box, one of Templeton’s favorite places to sleep. She’s been sleeping there a lot lately and doesn’t seem to mind the gray fur that lines the edges of the box from Templeton’s many hours in there.

I can’t bring myself to clean it out.

You were just yawning, weren’t you Em?

Em?

Emma?

But recently I walked into the living room and found her all sprawled out on the window seat, sleeping with one leg actually jutting out and hanging down. I went to go and grab my camera and by the time I came back her position hadn’t changed but she had woken up and was grooming herself, denying me the evidence that she had ever slept in such an untidy fashion.

I’ve been hoping to catch her again but she’s been on her guard.

Although he had a handful of things he had to be treated for from the time he was at the Humane Society through his first couple of weeks with us, thankfully he’s been healthy ever since.

A few years ago after a washing, the string fell out and was lost. Even so, every single time I picked up Templeton wearing that sweatshirt he’d start lunging after the string that wasn’t there.

My wife recently found the beloved maroon string, and since it was Sam’s first day out in the house, I wanted to see if he’d enjoy playing with it. It was an immediate favorite of both Sam and Emma, and somewhere up in heaven, I’m sure Templeton is looking down and smiling.

And lunging for that string.

It was this play session that convinced me that all world leaders should be required to have kittens in their laps while they negotiate — even generational hatred cannot stand in the face of a kitten’s charms.

Make love, not war. And bring plenty of string.

Scout hasn’t wanted to sleep there since we brought the new kittens home, but Sam has been happy to take over her spot. We bought two beds so Scout will have one available — Emma has been positively indifferent to them so we won’t need one for her.

Now that she’s so comfortable here, she often stays where she’s sleeping like Templeton used to. I’ll rub her head before I head upstairs to see if she wants to join me, and she gives me that “Would you get up if you were in my shoes?” look that my little gray cat used to give me, and then she goes back to sleep. She’s in bed with us when we wake up in the morning, so apparently she just comes to bed in her own time.

I laid it across her legs for this picture, you can see how she shredded it over the couple of weeks she wore it. You can also see a bit of her shaved patch, where the fur is very slowly growing back.