Oliver Kitteh - Chapter Seven: In which our hero climbs yet another mountain.

Oliver Kitteh - Chapter Seven

In which our hero climbs yet another mountain.

As told by Ms Brownlow (italic narration by Mabel).

Click here for chapters one, two, three, four, five and six.


Dear loyal friends of Oliver,

Please forgive my haphazard posting dates. Life isn't too busy, so I don't know what's going on. Maybe my brain is just off a bit. It happens, it happens.


It turns out I had another picture of him with his little tent!

Stretch Armstrong!

Chloe was the perfect mother for him. She was always nearby, but never hovered. She watched everything he did, but let him feel he had complete freedom.
I noticed though that whenever he was about to go somewhere she wouldn't be able to rescue him from if he needed help -- like under of behind somewhere she wouldn't fit -- she called out and called him back. So then he'd just alter course a little bit, spot something to the left or right that looked interesting, and be on his way.

Now for the exciting tale of: The Litter Box! 

He was partly doing normal kitten stuff, but he worked so hard it was really touching. And what he was trying to do was always so far out of his reach at first that I was amazed at the effort he put into it.

When he was just a little bit older I took him to the cat pan, just to show it to him. Really, I wanted him to see the litter right after Chloe used it to help him get the idea.
I realized the sides of the pan were high and planned to put some litter in the lid from a plastic storage bin and put it in the bedroom so it would be close to him.

Uh-uh. Oliver got it: litter pan, kitty pee-place. Very soon after I noticed he was in the bathroom near the cat pan. I watched in amazement. He pulled himself up and inside. Then he immediately collapse, spread-eagle, all four legs, and fell soundly asleep. After a bit, he woke up, peed, climbed back out, and promptly fell sound asleep on the floor right next to the cat pan.

He slept for a very long time.
The next time he went to use the pan, it was easier for him. After that he never didn't go to the cat pan, even though at the time it was a long walk and still a hard climb.

Oh my days! One imagines he had to plan his pees way in advance. "Okay it takes about half an hour to get there, and an hour to get inside..."

      

Oliver Kitteh - Chapter Six: Being a chapter full of new adventures and travails

 

Oliver Kitteh - Chapter Six

Being a chapter full of new adventures and travails.

As told by Ms Brownlow (italic narration by Mabel).

Click here for chapters one, two, three, four and five.

Dear readers, 

Last we left Oliver he had been introduced to the Petco structure, and climbing over the dowels. In this week's exciting installment, we see his little attempts to climb it!

I don't think he ever quite managed to do it, but it was worth a try, right?

Well, it was very worth a try, actually, because it helped strengthen
his back legs.  It was fabric, so he could use his little claws to
hold on, and he managed to stretch up his entire length, he just never
got any higher than that at this stage.  But it was still a
accomplishment and he was impressed with himself.  I think it sort of
counted as getting off the ground.

Cats climb, right?  Oliver worked on his climbing.

You can see little back leg all stretched out!

Notice how Mamma Chloe is coaching him.

I also got him this little collapsible hut, and it's another thing that got a lot of use.

But really I wanted you to see how eager he was to head out and
explore everything that was put in his immediate area.  And I wanted
you to see how he was using his little legs.

Moving from one place to another took him a very long time, but he was
determined to check everything out and find every way to use things
that he could.  And he got stronger every day.

"Check me out, Other Mommy! Rowr!"

I don't know about you, dear readers, but I thought about little Oliver this week (and BarbN's daughter) when faced with some seemingly entrenched problems. Just focus on one part, and work work work at it, til you pass out from exhaustion. That is what I reminded myself. (As opposed to the lessons I learn from my Haley, such as "If someone stands in your way, cut 'em. That's what claws are for." Or "If something's too hard to do, annoy your hue-mahn until they do it for you.")


     

Oliver Kitteh - Chapter Five: Comprising further particulars of Oliver's physical therapy

Oliver Kitteh - Chapter Five

Comprising further particulars of Oliver's physical therapy.

As told by Ms Brownlow (italic narration by Mabel).

Click here for chapters one, two, three and four.

Dear Faithful Readers, thank-you for your patience in awaiting the next adventure of Oliver Kitteh. You shall be well rewarded by another exciting tale of fortitude, and another adorable picture.

I got this little structure at Petco. I thought Oliver might like it
because he liked 'climbing over' thingsand it's made with plastic dowels.

The picture shows Oliver 'climbing through' after climbing over his
towel mountain and down the other side into this little structure.  He
appears to be lying, and his is resting at the moment I snapped the
picture, but this is what he looked like walking.

And all this took a lot of time, a lot of effort, and lots and lots of
practice.  Whenever he wasn't sleeping, he was working at mastering
getting about.  I've never seen a kitten who worked so hard.

He slept very soundly in between his adventures, because he was
completely exhausted.  But he took advantage of everything given him
that gave him an opportunity to master a new ability.

You may be able to spot a small 'window' in this little structure.
It's an opening in the 'room' part of the structure to the left in the
picture, and the opening you can see is in the upper left corner of
the picture.  There was another opening opposite.  Once Oliver was
stronger [and bigger] he made it a point to master getting through the
window.  Once, he could, he made it a point for a few days to always
go through the window when going in or out of the little structure.

Oliver Kitteh: Hardest working kitton* in show business. I shall remember him this week whenever I face any daunting tasks.

________
* Kitton: Not a type-o. Pronounced: kee-tohn (silent "n"). My old roommate used to like proncouncing "kitten" as though it were a French word.