The Girls

Funny Kids

Were you about to give up on me? Sorry no posts for a week. Even more wackiness abounds around here, but I'm back and doing the best I can...

Thought this morning I'd share some random pix of my funny kids. The first is proof of Xander's continued (and silly) love of dangling his head upside down when picked up. The photo quality isn't the greatest...took it with the camera on my new smart phone when there wasn't really enough light, but you get the idea.

And speaking of taking pix with the new smartphone, the following demonstrates what happens when you don't respond to his highness quickly enough. I was at the bathroom vanity and Xander wanted to be picked up to eat some noms. He very sweetly (and cutely) sat up on his haunches and put his front paws on my leg and meowed to be picked up. This is what happened when it took me too long to get the phone out and switch to camera mode (I still have the claw marks to show for it):

He still really loves his cube:

Not to be left out, Solana demonstrates her funny face when I caught her yawning, followed by a fun shadow shot:

And then there's Gwyn:

Happy Birthday Willow!

Our sweet Willow turns 13 today!! She and her dear brother Oz, who died in July, came to live with us when they were six weeks old. They were so adorable :D

Willow on left, Oz on right

Oz! You got somethin beside you! Don't worry, I'll get it!!!

I bitez your head!

This next one was taken the night we brought them home, or the next day. The two of them together barely covered LoML's elbow! They were virtually indistinguishable but for the dark patches on their heads. Oz's was dark grey and made a "V", while Willow's was dark brown and was a "slash" mark. Over the years, the marks faded away completely....

Teenagers:

Oz in front..

Oz in front..

Willow's our diabetic girl...well, at least she was diabetic...it's in remission right now (though I'm not sure that's the correct medical terminology). She was diagnosed when she was 2 years old. She was insulin dependent for the next 10 years, requiring shots twice daily. Sometime this past year...after we lost Oz maybe...her metabolism changed (?) and she no longer needs insulin! I continue to monitor her glucose levels and my vet tells me that there may come a time when we'll have to start it again, but so far, so good.

I believe Willow misses her dear, sweet brother...as we do....but Xander, a/k/a The Orange Menace, has kept her quite busy! :D He's ruthless as kittens can be, and takes every opportunity to leap on her, pin her down, and bite her neck (unless it's one of those times when he thinks he should lick her...which she never seems to appreciate since he does it while pinning her down). She's lost weight as she's now getting much more exercise than she was there for awhile. While she channels her evil alter ego when she has to go the vet's (can you blame her since her early experiences consisted of having to have blood draws every couple of hours?) she is one of the sweetest cats I've ever known. Another interesting fact is that she's decided it's time now to move to daylight savings time. :D She's my furry alarm clock. While she will progress to more attention-demanding tactics if I don't respond, she always starts out just by sitting by my head and purring. Loudly. :D

Happy Birthday girl!!!

Nicknames

Xander has several. The first was given to him by his 'auntie' who rescued him and led him to us: The Orange Menace...OM for short. This nickname is most appropriate when he's in one of his wild kitten phases, tearing around the house and generally terrorizing everybody. When he's wild....he's WILD!!! Oh, but then when he's sweet....well then, he's still a sweet little baby kitteh and that's when he becomes: 'My Little Smoochie'. Don't ask me where that came from...I just started calling him that one day. When I took the following pictures, LoML declared he was being 'SubSmoochie'. (That's the subwoofer he's sitting on.)

While he's still growing rapidly, he's in a round phase...I swear he's not as fat as this picture makes him look! (He's so fluffy!!!!) (Sorry. Inside joke. Despicable Me reference.)

There's not yet another nickname regarding his tail. But it is truly an impressive appendage, bordering on being its own separate entity (a fact that Xander's still trying to work out in his little kitteh mind). But I will say that sometimes when I see it:

All that cream-colored fluff in front of his face is the afore-mentioned appendage!

I think of this: