Kittens are cute.  There is no doubt about that. However, it is nice when they grow up.  LOL  I was lucky with Jasper and Winnie.  Molly did all the work.  She still disciplines them.  This morning Jasper tried to sniff my coffee and as I was complaining, Molly rushed over and put Jasper in his place a lot more harshly than I would ever do.  Jasper and Winnie are now, for the most part, very civilized cats.  They are really perfect cats.  They are loving, fun, well-behaved and they use that litter box well. 

Now, the new kittens are adorable.  Hopefully, I will take pictures this weekend.  They have the cutest faces.  They are live wires.  Fun to watch.  However, I am a bit kittened out.  I really did enjoy Jasper and Winnie more than expected and they fit in really well.  So, all is calm in the house.  My workload didn't go up a lot.  Keeping house didn't get more difficult.  It was great.  Now, I am having to train the new ones.  I have to do it.  No Molly to help. Things aren't quite as easy.

Last night, the new kittens, as all young kittens do, were jumping my feet under the cover.  They have to learn that that my feet are not the rat under the cover.  Molly did that when I first brought her home but she quickly figured it all out.  Then she taught Jasper and Winnie.  I had virtually none of that with those two. 

The end result is that I didn't sleep last night. The new kittens spill their water bowl a lot too.  They got litter in their water bowl.  I don't know how that happened being that the distance between the two is sufficient and Molly and her offspring never had the problem.   LOL  That is something Molly would not have put up with.  LOL  Molly knows how to raise kittens.  All I had to do was be the doting grandmother.  Babysit occasionally.  Literally.  Molly would hand them over to me even when they were quite young whenever she had to have a break. They didn't create messes.

Sometimes it is hard to forget that Molly is a cat.  She behaves toward her kittens like the best of human mothers.  Actually, I think she should teach some parenting classes to humans. 

I have to keep the new kittens separated from Molly.  I think Molly would help me with them but I don't take chances with disease so I separate newcomers for quite a while.  Molly is dying to get in there.  She doesn't act hostile toward them when I open the door.  They do toward her.

We were talking about on another thread about the difference between kittens and cats.  Kittens are more work.  Cats are very nice because they know the routine.  They understand that coffee is sacred and they don't sniff or knock it over.  No matter where it is sitting.  Cats are loving.  Actually, they are more loving than kittens because kittens are more interested in playing and they have no interest in your problems.  If I have a problem, my cats know it and respond to it.

Kittens need a lot of attention to be socialized properly.  My cats have other interests besides me.  Several of mine only want attention when they ask for it so that lets me off the hook a lot.  I pet, love on and talk to every cat every morning and every night.  However, individual attention is only sought by a couple of cats a night.  Sometimes all of them are too involved for me.  That's fine.  I can read my book and several will keep me company.

For me, give me CATS.

These kittens scratch just deep enough to draw blood.  All of my cats outgrow it. 

They are taming nicely though.  The gray one was very shy but is sitting on my lap now and will let me pet it when I approach it.  He still won't come to me when i call but he doesn't run when I do get to him.  The other three are already great lovers.  I feel like the gray one will be okay in a week. 

The four kittens are 1 black (with tabby markings in the background), 2 gray tabby, 1 near solid gray with tabby markings in the background.  They have very pretty faces.  rather large heads.  A couple have some pretty good sized feet.  Their proportions are good.  They are attractive.

Now, I have to find names.

There is one little striped guy that I am keeping come hades or high water.  He is a winner.  He has really bonded with me already.  Actually, he and I hit it off right away.  He has the "tude" that I like in cats.  He is bold, smart, friendly and lovable.

That grey shy one is so gentle and is really coming out of his/her shell now.  Very sweet cat.

I keep reminding myself that my grandmother raised 9 children by herself during the depression.  Surely, I can raise 12 cats.

Name Ideas:

Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin (hobbits, obviously, and Sam won't mind)

Han, Luke, Ben, Leia (as in Solo, Skywalker, Kenobe, Princess)

Tigger, Roo, Kanga, Piglet (to go with WPB)

I like D'artagnan.  I am trying it on the kitten by the laptop and the very first pic I posed in the above pictures.  He is a feisty, funny, strong, dominant personality.  A lot of imp in him.  Very, very, very in your face (literally) bold.