Kittens

Three months on, the two new additions to our household are fitting in quite nicely. They're still a tad jumpy - you can't approach them directly without them springing away like spring-loaded gazelles on pogo sticks. But if they are allowed to come to me, they are now happy to be petted and will even lie down on my lap. The cold weather has definitely helped with the new cuddliness, but I like to think that it's a desire for affection as well.

They are about 8 months old now and roughly adult-cat sized. There may be a little growth left in them, but they're both 95% of the way there. Now that they're larger, the downside of having three grey cats is becoming more clear, as it's next to impossible to tell any of them apart when seeing them in low light or out of the corner of your eye. If they were smarter, they would no doubt use this to play identical triplet pranks on us. Fortunately, not a single one of them has more than two lonely brain cells to rub together, so we're safe from reenacting any French farces or 50s sitcom style japeries.

One thing we had forgotten about young cats is how they go after food a lot more enthusiastically than staid middle-aged cats. We've had to learn to never leave a morsel of food out, and to weight down the top of the box if we order pizza, because they've been known to open the box and drag a piece out for themselves. Really, nothing is safe. I found a green bean on the floor tonight, dragged down there by a cat whose ambition outmatched her tooth structure when it comes to chewing up that sort of thing. I'm not sure if they're teenage boys or goats.

Their personalities have remained much the same. Lily is more playful, and it does my heart good to see her devotedly bat around a pathetically bent and half defuzzed pipe cleaner the way Olwen used to. Luna is more cuddly, and loves nothing more than to cuddle up to Sonya. Of course, I think Sonya would welcome her affections a lot more if her current approach weren't to go up to where Sonya is lying and simply fall over sideways directly onto her. Not surprisingly, poor Sonya doesn't enjoy being used as a pillow much and bitches Luna out in no uncertain terms before struggling out from underneath her and resettling.

Despite the new competition for food and being crushed by affection, I think Sonya is happy to have more cats in the house again. I definitely am. There's no better way to spend a cold evening than by being cozily weighted down by a carpet of cats.