the kitten & the kiddo

As a cat update, last night we did the "cat switcheroo" also known as step 4 of the introduction process-- when closed Sierra off in our bedroom (with litter box, food, water) and then let Nevada come out and explore on her own. After about 30 minutes we put her back in the office and let Sierra back out... and she acted as if nothing had happened. As yet another testament of how much more chill she is this time than last time, when we did this step with Charlie she KNEW something was up and was right at the door of our bedroom, sitting and waiting. They actually met then for the first time, as when Zach went in to the bedroom to check on her she darted out and came face-to-face with Charlie. This time, however, she was hanging out by the bed the whole time.

I repeated step 4 this morning, for about an hour or so this time, and again when Sierra came back out she kinda sniffed around but didn't act at all different or wierd. So Then we proceeded to step 5-- I opened the office door 1-2inches, blocking it there with a door stop, and let them "meet" throgh the crack. Poor Nevada hated this, as she desperately wanted to come out so started meowing pitifully. Sierra came over, hissed and growled a bit (though never raised her fur), then walked off and went along her usual business. I'm starting to wonder if this is her coping mechanism, to just pretend nothing's happening and ignore the intruder... lol So I'm considering step 5 "done" and in the next day or 2 we'll go ahead and let them meet casually, full on, out in the open. Needless tosay, we decided not to worry about the "10 day" rule. Nev seems healthy enough. I know it's potentially a risk, but I'm sure they'll be fine.

As for Donovan, he's been acting kinda wierd lately. Super happy and content a lot of the time, then other times super grouchy and just tough to please. He's got a bit of a cold, I think, not much of anything but his nose is a tiny bit runny and yesterday morning he had a small cough. He's also got all 4 canines coming in all at the same time. So that might be triggering the grumpiness. He's also decided diaper changes are TOTALLY UNCOOL and whines, kicks, cries, and wriggles all over the place whenever I try to change his diaper. I've been having to resort to the throw-one-leg-over-him-to-strap-him-down trick a lot the past few days. But, as a cute story, this afternoon he was freaking out about something, screaming and crying and nearly hysterical, and when my attempts to soothe him all failed miserably I looked at him and said, "Do you want to go see Scarlet?" (his friend down the street, whom I'd been planning to have us visit at about that time). He immediately stopped crying, his face brightened up, and he went straight to the front door and got annoyed at me when I didn't open it RIGHT THAT SECOND. He played happily over there for a good hour before we had to come home for dinner. So cute to see him making friends and really remembering them, forming bonds, and having fun playing with them.

We went to swim class again this morning. He's been doing really well lately, really enjoying it. After thinking about it a bunch I decided to keep up with the classes, since he is enjoying them so much and we both also really like this teacher (she seems rather fond of Donovan, too) and want to keep up that connection. So I went ahead and signed us up for the fall session. Yay! =)