A Maddie and Trotter Poem B4 Christmas

'Twas four nights before Christmas
And all 'round the house.
Two kittens were racing
For one fur-less toy mouse.

The sheen on the floor tile
In the kitchen so quiet
Was soon to become home to
One eight-legged cat riot.

First Maddie,
Then Trotter
To the room came a skidding.
Each reaching far forward
To bat at the mouse.

But wait!
In a flash
Their direction had changed.
A chopstick was poking
From under the fridge.

They rumbled,
Then tumbled.
Each after that stick.
Both fighting to prove
Who could grab it most quick.

But then it was Trotter
Who spied a white string.
He reached with his paw,
To his mouth came the twine.
And he trilled as he left
Dragging string 'cross the room,
This thingy is mine,
It's all mine, you can't have it.

Then quick 'round the corner
Speeds Maddie right at him.
He grabs for a tail
And the string is forgotten.
They leap and they jump
Flying one o'er the other.
Biting and kicking
And then it's too much.

So much running and playing
Wears two babies out.
One face lick,
Then an ear kiss
And they collapse on the floor.
It's nap time, they're tired.
They've finally relaxed.

So I run to the computer
My mind whirring like crazy.
It's time to check Facebook,
Then make a blog post.

It's just a brief respite
From purrballs
You see.
They like to take monitor space
Right in front of my face.

Now Christmas is coming
So I'll finally say,
Merry Christmas sweet kittens
And you two sleep tight.
It won't be long now I know
Till you're at it again.

The Velcro Move

Maddie was bouncing around on the bed as I got ready for work this morning.  I'm not sure what bee got under his bonnet, but he was running in circles chasing his tail, and doing vertical leaps all over the bed.  I had decided to wear a favorite Christmas necklace to work, which is a handmade piece made up of clothespins with reindeer faces (and one in the middle with a red nose) and tiny jingle bells strung on thin red and green ribbon.  As soon as I brought it out of the closet, I noticed Maddie was extremely interested.  He began to follow me and watched my every move as I placed it over my head.  He leaped up and began the dangerous kitty hunting crouch on the edge of the bed.  I moved back just as he launched himself, arms outstretched, toward where my neck had been a moment earlier.  Someone at worked referred to it as the Velcro move... arms wide and claws ready to catch onto anything in his path.  I've laughed at him Velcro-ing himself to the back cushion and sides of my La-Z-Boy rocking chair, but I never imagined he would so fearlessly go for a human target.

Good Morning!

At 4:15am this morning, I was awakened by a trilling kitten walking across my face.  Trotter stayed a few minutes, but I was then able to go back to sleep.  Whatever he'd wanted to say had apparently been said, so he returned to someplace else in the apartment.  When my alarm sounded at 6:00am, I attempted to reach over to hit the snooze button, but something prevented my movement.  There was a grey kitten lying across the air tube of my CPAP machine.  He wasn't blocking the air flow, but he was close enough to my head that I couldn't move in any direction.  As I finally managed to reach for the alarm, I was greeted by another weight at my back... of course, Maddie had to be sleeping there!

Later, as I was taking my morning shower, I laughed at Trotter, who was perched on the edge of the tub watching the water.  He jumped away without falling into the shower stream, but as I turned off the water, I noticed his favorite toy, (a thick piece of woven cotton cord that he likes to drag about) which he'd apparently dropped into the tub.  I don't think it was a gift.  I think he was waiting for me to get out so he could jump in and attempt to drop it down the drain.  For some reason he enjoys dropping it into wet things.  A couple of times I've found it floating in their water dish.

This is Trotter and his String

 Later, as I was fighting off kitties who were trying to untie my shoe laces as I tried to tie them, there was a cat fight commotion to be heard somewhere outside.  Both of them jumped up on the chair beside me with extremely worried looks on their faces.  I like to think that they were ready to defend me from the marauders.  Whatever it was passed quickly, and they were soon back to surfing in a trashed shopping bag that had contained my toilet paper purchase from Saturday.

Uh oh, gotta go.  Maddie is sitting beside me at the computer desk, and he's just noticed the toggle chains from the ceiling fan above us.  He's standing up leaning against the monitor and peeping toward the ceiling.  That can't be good.

Racetrack

Racetrack, that's me.  The kittens were not happy that I lingered in bed longer than normal this morning.  After the now-usual face touching and climbing over my head, they resorted to racing around the bed at full speed.  There was a bit of foot-chasing, but mostly they were just running around all over me on the bed.  What choice did I have, but to get up and assess the damage.  Yup, all I got were innocent looks as they moved on to the next game.

Interference

It's getting harder to do things on the computer these days.  Both Maddie and Trotter have decided the moving pictures on the computer screen are theirs to watch and bat at.  Hard for me to write anything with two little kitty heads blocking everything.

My apartment is now under total domination by my two furry masters.  Nothing is safe from their curious attack, so the floor is littered with anything and everything that is either chaseable, chewable, or knock-down-able.  I'd been told that they were toilet paper fiends in their first home.  I used to put on a roll to be pulled from the top, but Lori suggested I should change that in order to conserve my TP.  It worked until last night when Trotter noticed I'd left a bit of it dangling, and he was immediately in destructo mode.  Fortunately, he didn't pull it all down, but instead took his claws to the top of the roll.  There's a big hole where kitty claws pulled out a chunk of toilet paper.  Shortly after that, Maddie was running around the apartment and came dancing into the bathroom.  He was performing the kitten bounce in the corner of the room, which meant he'd found some new toy... a small sliver of the toilet paper that had been pulled away from the roll.  I think it eventually joined the ripped up bits of paper towel that have taken over my kitchen floor.  The linoleum floor there is a new point of attraction... things slide great.  But, of course, then they end up hiding under the refrigerator.  I'm going to have to find a tool to use to fish under there to locate whatever has been lost. 

Strange Noises

I've come to recognize that strange noises coming from another room, or from unknown places in the dark, mean that somebody with four legs is getting into trouble.  The other night I was extremely tired when I went to bed, but shortly after I turned off the lights, I began hearing fabric scratching noises.  You know, the kind that sound like something is being ripped to shreds.  They were coming from somewhere near the bed, so fearing that they were destroying my camera bag (which I'd removed from the closet for the heater repair), I jumped up and threw on the light.  Here's what I saw...

The blue kitty carrier had transported them to my place and I kept it as a "safe" place for them.  It has velcro and a zipper at the top so kitties can be more easily removed in case they refuse to come out the side door.  Maddie had managed to pull it partially open and the two were fighting through the opening... until Trotter decided to run out the front and Maddie took his place.  This game continued for several minutes, with places exchanged several times.

Synchronization

These two little boys have knock-down drag out fights, then end up sleeping together and giving eachother baths.  Something that continues to make me laugh is the way they seem to fall into synchronization... and do the funniest things together.  Here are a few videos to illustrate:

1.  Maddie and Trotter sharing a drink from their water glass...

2.  Washing up after dinner...

And, 3.  Checking out the latest on Facebook...

Fearless

It's amazing how completely fearless these young ones are.  They leap without a thought from heights that would terrify me if I were looking from a height so many times more then my own size.  I have watched Trotter jump from the shelf in the closet, which is at least five feet high.  The other day Maddie jumped from the kitchen ledge to the back of the sofa, which is a distance of at least six feet.  He jumps with his front feet spread wide apart... like a little flying Supercat.

A couple of days ago, I was standing in the kitchen trying to decide what I wanted for dinner.  Next thing I knew, there was a kitten climbing up my skirt so he could get on the counter.  I don't remember which one it was, but I was glad they are still small and relatively light.  My skirt would have been ruined had the climber been any heavier.  I was surprised... the kitten was nonchalant.  "Well, you were there and I wanted to get up there."

They have also discovered that there is more to see outside of the front door of the apartment.  Thursday night I had to run down to the office to drop of my rent check.  When I returned, Maddie was waiting by the door and slipped past me as I cracked open the door.  He danced to the south end of the landing, which is flanked on either side by balconies.  He hung out and looked down through the railing at the walkway below, then blithely walked over onto my neighbor's balcony... too far away for me to reach him.  I watched in terror as he checked out the balcony and looked down at the ground below.  I called and cajoled to try to entice him back, and eventually he did come back off the balcony, only to zip over to the opposite side of the landing and climb onto another neighbor's balcony.  When he came back off that balcony I grabbed him up and ran for my door, which had a crying (?) Trotter behind it... and who took his turn into the outside world before I could get inside with Maddie and shut the door.  I put Maddie down and ran for Trotter, but then Maddie ran out after his brother, so I had two kittens hanging out at the south end of the landing.  Maddie ran back onto the neighbor's balcony, while Trotter hung out behind a bike that's been locked to that railing since I moved in.

I finally managed to grab up Trotter and held him in my arms while I tried to entice Maddie back.  When he finally came close enough to reach, I couldn't get him up into my arms... something to do with a wiggling grey kitten already there.  I finally managed to grab Maddie by the skin on the back of his neck, and ran back to my apartment with one dangling kitten and the other hugged tight in my arms.  Got the door open, got inside, and kicked the door closed without losing a kitten.  Once inside, neither kitten even looked at me with any attitude.  They just decided they wanted to go back out there.  Here's what happens when kitties know there's more on the other side of a door...