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...