Bath #5

I think I can comfortably say that we have the bath time thing down!  Freddie cooperated wonderfully, putting up minimal protests.  Molly helped me with rinsing and Christine was again the photographer.

This is the best photo from this week's bath.  I would say that Christine's getting better at photography, except she took a lot of blurry, slanted photos that had to be deleted.  I guess the trick to taking good photos is to take a lot of photos and delete the bad ones.

While I was towel drying Frederica, Link climbed into the crate.  Christine & I tried to pull her out, but she wouldn't budge.  As soon as I turned on the hair dryer near the crate, she bolted out and I could dry Frederica.

Once again, my Freddie is soft and clean and ultra-fluffy.  I brushed her out and now she's napping on her favorite blanket.

Freddie's new napping spot

Freddie has taken to napping in Dean's chair at the kitchen table.  It's a spot that's sort of central to the house, up off of the floor (and away from the dogs) and sort of concealed.

Not the smallest anymore

Frederica turned 5 months old this past weekend.  She now weighs 9 pounds, which is about how much Link weighs.  We think she's having a growth spurt, because she's been eating more the last couple of days and she just seems bigger.

Freddie has been constantly working on Link.  I've actually seen them chasing each other around the house more than once.  On Sunday, they both had their afternoon naps on the spiral staircase.

Link knew that Frederica was a few steps above her, but didn't really seem to mind.  Link still doesn't approve of Freddie's presence during morning "nummies" but I think it's because of Freddie's interest in Vinnie, not a competition for food.

Below is Christine holding Freddie on Father's Day.  We had the whole family over and Frederica seems to enjoy having company.  The only company she hasn't liked was Pearl & Astro, Richard & Maria's standard poodles.  The two poodles spent a portion of last Friday visiting our household and Astro was a little too animated (and LARGE!) for Frederica's comfort.

Fricassee in a box

My new, favoritest nickname for Frederica is "Fricassee."  I stumbled onto it after saying "Frederica C" several times, quickly.

The girls were playing with the game "Cariboo" this past week and they left the box lid on the floor.  I think this is the first time I've seen Freddie lounging in a box, a classic kitty past time.

Puddin' came by to visit briefly, but Fricassee wasn't interested in playing.

She's ready for her close-up

Frederica had her picture taken with Molly a little while back.  Freddie wasn't exactly cooperative, but we got some cute photos.  The photos below were taken by Pat Guard at http://www.patandray.com/.

The 4th time is a charm

Frederica had her 4th bath this morning and I think I finally got it right.  She was calmer than she's ever been during her bath.  She still struggled to escape a couple of times, but I didn't have any scratches on my arms as souvenirs.

Richard stopped by this morning and watched Frederica get a bath... it was a good bath time to observe.  He said that while he's not a big "cat person" he thinks that Freddie has some class.

Playing with Puddin'

Freddie was playing with Puddin' this morning... or at least trying to.  She started by nipping at Puddin's paws and moved around to her hind legs... very gutsy!  After Puddin' got up and moved, Frederica rolled around to try to induce her to play.  Puddin' isn't as playful as Cupcake, so as cute as the move below is, it wasn't successful.

No news...

Not that Freddie isn't constantly being cute and fluffy and sweet in all kinds of wonderful ways, but I've been busy with the end of the girls' school year and I just got back from taking Brianna's Girl Scout troop on their final camping trip.  (The troop is disbanding this summer.)  Anyway, it's amazing how much you can miss a kitten's midnight visits when you're away from home.  I don't know what the collective noun is for "true katydids" (an "obnoxion" sounds about right), but I was awake for most of the night listening to katydids calling out their version of "Hey, Baaaaaby" and missed my Freddie.

Last night, I was hoping for a good night's sleep but Frederica apparently missed me, too.  She spent a good portion of the night rearranging herself on top of me and purring loudly so as to wake me up so I'd pet her.  I spent the day at home today (Christine was sick) and Freddie hovered around me, napping within reach.

More photos and entries to come... at the moment I'm pooped from dealing with 500+ camping trip photos... such as the one below, taken right after we finished a zipline tour (Bri is on the right):

In the sink, part 2

Freddie was back in the sink this morning. There was a black stinging bug flying around near the ceiling and I got this photo of Frederica doing that chittery noise at the bug. I love it when they do that!

The very picture(s) of repose

Frederica napping on the couch this afternoon... 'nuff said.