Mindy and her brother Marty have turned our house and lives upside down, but how could you not love that cute face? Photos: Jen White.
I’m exhausted.
I’d forgotten what it’s like to have babies in the house.
They’re always hungry and I never know if they’ve had enough. The smells are enough to bring you to your knees at times and the mess – the bloody state of this house!
And they are into everything. Each day they find something else to get into when they shouldn’t.
My beloved plants have been relegated to the higher shelves, minus leaves that have been ripped off and looking much the worse for wear.
The kids are great when they happily play, but then they go quiet. As any parent knows, quietness often signals disaster.
The only really quiet time is when they fall asleep, although I’m convinced they have an internal alert that stirs them the minute I walk away.
But then they want cuddles and when they look at me with those beautiful green eyes I just melt.
I forgive them for their mess, their clinginess when I want to work and their demands to play.
After all, you really can’t teach kittens that the keyboard mouse is not their mouse and that the sight of fingers dancing across the keyboard is not a signal to pounce.
Yes, our quiet, clean, adult home has been turned upside down in the week since we adopted two rescue kittens, Marty (who was going to be Mork but it really didn’t suit him) and Mindy.
Given that our last family feline Winkz lived for 16 years, I had truly forgotten what kittens do to a house and to our daily lives.
Day one – the plant on the lamp table had to go. The table is now a launching pad between the lounge chairs and the cat tree (where the beautiful draping plant used to sit, now relegated to the bathroom behind closed doors).
On day two we realised we can no longer place our (red) wine glasses on the coffee table and must instead hold the glass in our hands at all times to avoid messy breakages. That was after the ninja cat leapt onto the table and slid all the way across it.
I’ve come home after meetings this week to find a pot plant in one room knocked over with water across the floor and dirt from another plant scattered everywhere in another corner.
So far they’ve been caught behind the kitchen bin drawer, copped a knock from the dishwasher door and were too busy looking for trouble in the pantry when the door was closed.
I get no support whatsoever from the husband. He just rolls his eyes and puts on the “I told you so” face.
All that playing and exploring their new home is just too tiring for Marty and Mindy.
OK, so it was my idea to get two kittens, siblings, so they would grow up together and keep each other company. His response was that I worked from home so I would be the company.
In the past week I’ve discovered that we were both right.
Two kittens definitely means double trouble, but I reckon if we had only adopted one, I would be so busy being the “company” that I wouldn’t be able to get any work done – therefore upsetting the real company that pays me.
Mindy in her favourite spot under the laptop, keeping an eye on what’s happening in the office.
Mind you, the husband has fallen in love with our new tenants. He’s taken almost as many photos and videos of them – awake, asleep, playing, awake, asleep – as I have and is like a proud dad when he relays stories about their quirky little characters.
In the same way you can’t help but laugh when you hear a baby’s laugh, you can’t help but smile at the antics and playfulness of kittens. Sometimes it’s like watching a slapstick movie – you know the ending will be one or both rolling off the lounge/table in shock – but it still makes you laugh.
The way they find that absolutely anything is fun to play with – a Christmas beetle, fly on the wall, even an errant leaf (no doubt ripped off one of the house plants) is more fun than the dozen rattly, noisy, feathery toys we bought for them.
The empty wine carton is a fabulous play space to jump in, on and around – even better when your sister joins in the fun.
They’re jealous when one gets attention and the other doesn’t and as much as they rumble and playfight, Marty has a pitiful miaow when he loses sight of his sister and won’t relax until he finds her again.
When they do fall asleep they sleep together, within touching distance or even lying across each other, as if they can’t bear to be apart.
Like any baby, they see the world as an amazing place with so much stuff that’s new and fun, as well as a place of scary noises like a whipper snipper or the garbage truck or even a sudden sneeze.
And like any baby, they make a house a home. A messy, smelly home at times, but one filled with laughter and love. Welcome to the Whitehouse little ones.
Original Article published by Jen White on Region Illawarra.
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