GregHowley.com

Our cats are about 9 months old now, and I'm almost hesitant to call them kittens anymore - they've gotten so big! But we have a ton of fun with them, and I figure that it's about time I wrote some of this down.

If I wasn't entirely aware before that cats could have distinct personalities, I am now. Although they're half-brother and sister, Bender and Tonga are as different as night and day. Bender is the social one. Every morning when we wake up, he'll be cuddled up next to Linda. Tonga is sometimes at our feet, but more often than not, she'll be elsewhere in the room. And she's incredibly vocal. Bender never meows, but Tonga will get loud any time she's excited. When she's playing, when she sees a bird, and god forbid that you ever pick her up - she hates to be picked up. Bender doesn't mind as much.

Tonga is the most skittish cat I've ever seen, perhaps even more than a cat my mom used to own - Mr.Peepers. At the slightest noise, Tonga will up and run away. One of the funniest things I've ever seen was last week when I was in the living room. I hear a rustling-paper noise coming from the bedroom, and Tonga sprints at top speed from the bedroom and around the corner through the kitchen and into the living room. She's dragging a shopping bag, which must have gotten caught on her tail or leg by the handle. In any event, she's downright terrified of it, and running for her life. She pulls a U-turn around the couch and heads back towards the bedroom, running like lightning. I was laughing my ass off.

It's odd what they like to play with too. We got them a bunch of toys, and they're always laying around. Bender's favorite was (every father's nightmare) a little pink purse, which he would carry around in his mouth. He knocked it under the fridge a few months ago, and I haven't been able to get it out. Tonga's favorite toy is a rubber band. Just a plain ordinary elastic. Another of their favorites came from a toy mouse we'd bought - you'd hang the thing from a doorknob and they'd play with it. But fairly soon, they broke the string, so we just took both ends and threw them on the ground to play with. Turns out they love the piece that goes around the doorknob - we call it the furry donut. Weird.

They seem to have stopped tearing the ends off the doorstops, and Tonga doesn't turn on the water in the tub as often anymore, which is good. I'd hate to come home to an overflowing tub. Part of me is glad that they're growing up - they stay off the counters more so now than they did a few months ago. But they're so cute when they play and when they cuddle up on the couch and clean each other. I'm so glad we got cats.