Some of you folks might remember a few weeks ago when I described my Amelia baby's encounter with the magnifying makeup mirror. We had a similar encounter this morning.

We've now had baby Tabitha for about three weeks. That would make her about 9 or 10 weeks old. Everywhere she goes, her eyes are wide open in rapt fascination with everything she observes. She watches her two older sisfurs Cleopatra and Amelia closely, but especially Amelia.

This morning proceeded about like normal. I finished my shower, dried off, stepped out of the shower with my towel over my shoulders, and allowed Amelia to jump up so she could groom my hair while I shave. As we were doing our morning preparations, Tiny Tabitha was watching us closely. I finished shaving, walked into the bedroom, and sat on the foot of the bed to pull my socks on. When I got settled, Amelia jumped off my shoulders, just like she normally does. A few seconds later I felt tiny kitten paws scrambling on the towel, and I suddenly had a baby Tabitha FluffyButt on my shoulders. If her Amelia sister can be a shoulder-cat, then she wants to try it too.

I returned to the bathroom to brush my teeth, and the Fluffster loved the ride! Things look so very different when viewed from higher than one's normal perspective. As we arrived in the bathroom she got a glimpse of the little kitten in the big mirror, as was fascinated. She stared at the little black fluffy kitten in the mirror, cocked her head to one side, and jumped back when the kitten in the big mirror did the same. Then she caught sight of the makeup mirror to her left. I moved a little closer to the makeup mirror so she could look better.

She moved her face right over to the mirror and saw - another kitten! She again jumped back in shock, then came right back to look again. She stuck out a paw to touch the big kitten in the mirror - and it touched her back! She leaned in to sniff the other kitten - and it sniffed her! For a good couple of minutes she was exploring this other, bigger kitten. Paw touches, sniffs, chin rubs, head butts. It was such a wonderful exploration! Another new kitten, living right there in that big shiny thing. She was trying to figure it out - it looks like a kitten, but it doesn't feel like one or smell like one. How curious!

I gave her some time to visit with her new buddy, then returned to the bedroom. As we entered the bedroom she made a giant leap down onto the bed, then shot off down the hallway. She had to go find her Amelia sister and tell her all about the big kitten living in the round shiny thing.

I love having a kitten in the house!

Copyright © Dan Mahoney
June 25, 2003