Double digits for Elise!

It's a truly happy birthday indeed when you get to
hold a kitten.

 Elise turned 10! Amid all the appropriate fanfare, thanks to careful planning before our big trip. She noted all the times people exclaimed "double digits!" to her throughout the week, and seemed slightly disappointed that there weren't more. Still, it was a good day.

As per custom, we started the day with Lucky Charms. But these weren't just any Lucky Charms: these were fruity Lucky Charms! Elise has been excited about these for nearly a year, and stressed as well. With the last birthday of birthday season, she worried that her sisters would choose this cereal for their birthdays, and she wanted the new flavor to be a first for everyone on her birthday. (Complicated, right? This is my life.) I made no promises, but she got her wish. The pink, loosely strawberry flavored tidbits got us off to a great start, in one sense, anyway.

Naomi made all kinds of fun
animals for Elise: a parrot, a 
cat, a unicorn and a squirrel.

Naomi was quick to offer up her gift, a make-your-own felt donut animal kit. And of course, Elise was all smiles as she surveyed the decorating job we'd all helped with the night before, and the birthday button we pinned onto her. Celebrating comes so naturally to this girl and she relishes every minute.

The turtle cake!

Our day was going to be packed, so I got started right away on Elise's cake: white cake with almond flavoring (she has excellent taste!). Elise loves nothing better than decorating her own cake on her birthday, and we made this one look just like a colorful sea turtle. She has great ideas when it comes to cakes.

As Matt had taken the day off, he joined us as Elise opened a few more presents. We quickly got stuck on a coral reef game and, naturally, had to play it right away. Thanks to some sort of birthday magic, Elise won! She was nearly dominated by Matt, who fortunately got into the birthday spirit just in time. 

They work! We made her wear
alllll the padding outside.

Then she opened rollerblades, as I'd remembered that once she'd thought 10 would be a good age for rollerblades. She'd since forgotten, which made the surprise even better. She couldn't wait to try them, so Matt took her out on the trails after a little practice in the kitchen. She loved the smoothness of them and rollerblades several times daily, usually with a sister running along beside.

Amazingly, all of this activity took us right up until lunchtime, which was to be Matt's famous chocolate-chip pancakes. [This birthday brought to you by...sugar.] Afterward, we hurried to get ready for Nature Club, and it's ensuing party, which started out super-simple (just Nature Club + cupcakes) and ended up accumulating a craft, goody bags and decorations. Honestly, though, we wouldn't have it any other way for our sweet Elise.

Elise still loves goody bags above all else, and she'd taken care to put them together the previous day. Kalina, Matt, and Naomi decorated the deck, Elise compiled the craft supplies, and I made sure all the details were handled. The weather cooperated by being my definition of perfect: 70 degrees and sunny.

Guests were early, but we were ready. The girls rushed out to the stream to find supplies for the nature craft, and Naomi and her little 5-year-old friend (she loves 5-year-old friends) pulled half her Calico Critters and dolls outside onto a picnic blanket to play. House rules right now include outdoor playdates, but not indoor--much to the consternation of several 5-year-old friends. But we make it work and I'm secretly delighted by the arrangement for all the reasons you can probably guess.

After a bit, we started our nature craft: making nature-print necklaces out of oven-bake clay and natural materials. The girls got really into it, and made an average of 5-6 each. Fortunately, thanks to the other mom who stuck around, I actually remembered to bake them. Unfortunately, because of my rush to toss them in the oven after having forgotten for so long, I forgot to check the holes to make sure they were big enough for the string. Fortunately, we made it work.

The girls played on the zipline while we cleaned up (Naomi and her friend were still going strong in the driveway with toys). When I heard "let's go to the stream!" I quickly called them up for the decorated cookies we'd picked out the day before. Because I know how the stream often goes, and how the result is not conducive to cleanly eating cookies. 

Everyone but Elise devoured theirs (I think she finished hers the day after her birthday, liking to nibble and savor), and then she opened her presents. Her friends apparently know and love her very well, as she received all her favorites. 

And then it was stream time. Miraculously, no one ended up too dirty. The parents arrived as we were distributing goody bags and trying to poke thick cord through small holes to finish necklaces.

It wasn't hard to blow out all the
candles on this chilly evening!

Then, we quickly switched gears for the birthday dinner with Grandpa and Marianne! Elise had chosen macaroni and cheese for her meal (my stovetop version), which Matt supplemented with grilling and I supplemented with steamed carrots. Unfortunately, I hadn't found the usual pasta or the usual cheese at the store but, like many things 5 days after a big trip, we made it work. 

Opening a camp chair, like Kalina's. She also,
predictably, received a towel set, just like her
sisters did.

Elise loved every card and gift she opened, and she loved feeling celebrated, her favorite foods, and seeing her people. What an amazing 10th birthday!

At 10, Elise is in her element: she's able to carry out her own plans, she enjoys all her relationships, and life isn't too hard. The world is hers. 

Except for all the daily injustices: having to sit in the back of the van without a window that roles down because she's the only one who doesn't get carsick, having dental work, having to do school, having to clean up ever, etc.

She's quite vocal about these, but fortunately, about the good things, too. She knows how to sweetly and sincerely compliment like none other , and is still a word wizard, making us all laugh, but firmly at a 10-year-old level.

Regarding oobleck, a cornstarch-and-water substance we played with to discuss the states of matter: "Man, I bet scientists are doing a lot with oobleck!"

From a conversation: Me: Nobody loves you like your mommy loves you. Kalina: What about God? Me: Well, that's true, but... Elise, beaming: You've got to try!

Elise faithfully writes in a diary every night, and has for more than a year. (She's even inspired Naomi to as well!) She writes stories regularly, and tells them more often--especially to Naomi, who's an eager audience, and she's developing a series about uni-animals in a forest. 

She's still more adventurous than the rest of us, but also cautious--she has her limits, for sure, although they aren't always where we'd want her limits to be. Still, it's nice to see she has them. She bikes faster and climbs higher than the rest of us, but it's nice to have someone leading the way. And she's more likely to take risks, but would be considered risk-averse in other families. It's fun for us to have someone who's "out there," and will star in our plays and do the silly stuff the rest of us are a bit nervous about. She's got spunk.

Elise loves natural beauty and is getting pretty decent at drawing it. She continues to adore the outdoors, but is moving away from her dream of becoming a survivalist because, "I have a feeling that when I'm an adult I probably won't want to anymore. I mean, do you see adults becoming survivalists?"

With the goal of landing a decent part in a musical (because not many plays for children are produced by the places that are easy to drive to), Elise has been taking voice lessons from her piano teacher since February. She's enjoyed singing, and is learning a ton, including how to stay in tune. 

Elise loves language arts but doesn't like math. She's also super excited about history (middle ages this year) and anything biology (marine biology this semester). She dives into thick books and will likely finish all her birthday books (and there are a lot!) within a couple weeks.

She loves to chat with adults, and thinks little ones are cute, and she continues to be easygoing and fun, unless you're trying to get her to do math or put away laundry. Elise takes things seriously, and although she's supremely cheerful, definitely reaches a limit with people who either distrust her or needle her.

Her favorite animals, other than kittens, are probably tadpoles, and we managed to find two or three different kinds this year. Baby turtles--the kind not much bigger than a quarter--are also a favorite, and we maintained quite a few aquariums this summer. Fortunately, she's happy to help with all the caretaking. 

She still loves to bake and cook, and she "perfected" her cupcakes by adding some lemon peel. She wants to write when she grows up, and maybe be a park ranger. 

Elise received super-soft, warm,
teal boots. Doesn't get much
better than that.

Elise likes nature, crafts, good books in a variety of genres, streams, climbing, writing, baking, tasting, the color aqua-blue, sweets, cheese (and things with cheese in/on them), soft things, warm things, her watch,  skorts, jackets/sweatshirts, swimming, rollerskating to upbeat music, anything scented, yarn, silly things, virtually any animal, clever advertisements, the planet Venus, adventure clothes, running ahead, putting on plays, talking, helping Naomi (sometimes), marbles, and taking apart her treats to make sure the save all the frosting/chocolate chips/etc. for last. 

She strongly dislikes, and often lets us know: dentists, dental work, braces, her bracket (another form of dental work), windows in the van that don't roll down (hers), vegetables, math, having her hair brushed, injustice, baths/showers, super-obvious advertisements, romance, and dead-end arguments.

Rollerblades!

Elise is a great negotiator, but is at least least occasionally polite and reasonable in doing so. IF she had a vice right now (don't we all?) it would be distraction, as she can ping-pong around a room/house and never return to the original spot. To do what she was originally supposed to do. Sometimes this frustrates her (I tried to do my math, but things kept coming into my head!), but mostly it entertains her.

She has a mature understanding, many times, about what's reasonable or what's not. She often says things like, "I would have asked for a second cookie, but I know that since we got popsicles earlier in the day, you'd say no. So that's why I didn't ask." We can tell there's a lot going on in her head, and we often get to hear about it. 

Elise is truly her own person, and she couldn't possibly be any dearer. Happy birthday, sweet Elise!!

Me and my birthday girl!

Our Little 7-Year-Old

 Naomi is 7! But if you ask her, she'd rather be 6. She's had a lot of fun as a 6-year-old, and is concerned about growing older. Nevertheless, she managed to enjoy a pretty amazing birthday.

[For some reason the photos won't allow me to text-wrap around them, so this post is going to be super choppy. Hope it works better next time....]

Sisters are still the #1 way to make a birthday special, and Kalina and Elise rose to the challenge, celebrating every little moment with her. We began with birthday cereal: chocolate Lucky Charms, which even Matt tried a little of among his Cheerios, reacting about how you'd figure to Naomi's complete delight.

And of course, there were presents: a birthday dress for Naomi and Elise's gift to her, a book of pompom animal crafts. Naomi's been happily making pompom animals on her own, but this book took it one step further, so a large portion of the morning was spent making a tiny multicolored hedgehog and, for Elise, a red squirrel. Kalina began a bunny, making an amazingly perfect pompom that is currently...an amazingly perfect pomom and nothing more.

Naomi also opened a stuffed red panda, which she'd been asking for but, as she later confided to me, she didn't think I'd actually be able to find. I'm not sure the red panda has felt the floor under its paws since. Kalina helped her make an impromptu bamboo craft out of popsicle sticks so the panda would have something to eat.

After a pretty low-key morning and Matt's famous chocolate-chip pancakes for lunch, we opened another gift (a laundry set with a washer/dryer that really turns--because Naomi has a lot of laundry from her dolls and Calico Critters), and then headed to the neighborhood pool. Which has been packed this summer, for obvious reasons. 

Amazingly, we had it to ourselves--or at least it felt that way because our presence nudged out the two sunbathers who had been enjoying some peace and quiet. We felt bad, but hadn't exactly been canonballing into the water, so not too bad. 

Naomi has been learning to swim, so she paddled around a bit and we enjoyed our floats, and dumping Daddy into the pool and such for nearly an hour before unattended teenagers and then 5 young boys and their babysitter showed up. By this time, we were chilly enough, with the temps only reaching the mid to upper 80s, that we decided to call it good. 

A Zoom birthday! Quite fun--
if Covid has done one thing
for us, it's gotten us connecting
more!

Back at home, Naomi enjoyed a few presents, and we chatted with Grandma and Grandpa on Zoom. Before we knew it, it was time to pull everything together to have Grandpa Tom and Marianne for dinner. I hustled out the door for dinner and balloons, and everyone else tidied up.

The lighting is off,
but it was a very
pretty cake!

While Naomi enjoyed her pizza and breadstick meal from Fazolis, it soon became clear what was really on her mind: her purple-frosted angelfood cake! With rainbow sherbet on the side, in case the cake itself wasn't sweet enough. Although a little timid of her candle, she relished her moment and then devoured the cake. After a few more gifts, we called it a night: birthday officially celebrated!

Notice how the red panda,
named Cuddles, appears in 
every photo for a while.

The next day, we held a tiny outdoor friends party for Naomi, because we do like to celebrate! She wanted a Build-A-Bear party like last year and fortunately, Build-A-Bear came through with a stuff-at-home kit. So, for way less than the cost of making Build-A-Bears at the mall, we distributed small animals to her 3 guests (and Elise, who steeled herself to be okay getting the unchosen animal) and used the fun plastic machine to pump in some stuffing. 

I'd been a bit concerned that maybe some of Naomi's friends would be "over it," and not get as charmed about the whole Build-A-Bear process as, say, 4-year-olds. Conversely, I also worried that they'd be way too into it, and erupt in tears if they didn't get the exact animal they wanted.

Kalina noted that the
stuffing machine uses
an Archimedes screw,
no batteries required!

In the end, the only "problem" was that one girl didn't want to use the stuffing machine and instead wanted to stuff her animal herself. Which, as you've probably deduced, wasn't a problem at all, unless you count the fact that I thought the stuffing machine was super cool and I wanted everyone to play along and use it. Even though that would make more work for me. But I let it go and we all got on marvelously.

Kalina and Elise were excellent help, as Elise added the pizzaz to the "heart" ceremony thing they do at Build-A-Bear, and Kalina fetched and helped at a split-second's notice.

When the bears (actually, 1 unicorn, 2 kitties, and 1 bear) were stuffed, someone suggested making parachutes and launching them off our deck. Someone else suggested materials, and soon we were semi-floating animals down to a blanket below. Alright.

Covid candle-blowing,
single-serve style.

Then, someone complained of being hungry (the girl who is always hungry when she visits our house), so we broke out the cupcakes and juice. It took all of 2 seconds for the cupcakes to be devoured. Which was a minor issue because Kalina and Elise were hiding goody bags and clues around the yard for a mini treasure hunt, assuming that the girls would be distracted for a good 5 minutes. Fortunately, a friend of mine had stuck around so she managed to keep the girls in one spot while Kalina and Elise scrambled to finish and I took care of something inside the house.

Not sure where we'd be in this
world without sisters.

Soon, the girls were off racing around to find the locations their clues sent them to, and then enjoying the zipline and swingset. The girls knew each other, if only vaguely, and they all got along like old friends. Last of all, Naomi opened her gifts. She was delighted to receive a soft cat that you can actually take for a walk. And that meows at us. And scares the actual cats. She also received cat costumes, which also scare the cats--but not before we got at least one good picture. So this was not the very best day for our kitties, but Naomi sure enjoyed herself!

She's also zipping through thank-you notes like a pro; faster, honestly, than anyone in the house ever gets them out. 

At 7, Naomi frequently wavers on the line of big girl vs. little girl. For one thing, she can go out and play with her sisters without returning 5 minutes later in tears due to some injury, real/imagined and physical/emotional. She can keep up, emotions intact. This is huge. And yet, Naomi also loves to dabble in the little-girl world of pretending and baby animals.

Naomi's relationship with Elise has developed a lot this year--they're better friends than ever and actually share interests. Elise is delighted to have a rapt audience for her sweet stories about magical animals, and Naomi is thrilled to be Elise's writing partner. "Kalina is good at editing and Naomi is good at encouragement," Elise compares. They also both enjoy yarn crafts and general silliness. Naturally, Naomi and Kalina get along wonderfully as well, but Naomi and Elise are enjoying more togetherness than they have in the past.

Naomi reads fluently and phonetically, but she still often prefers picture books chapter books. She questions the need for much conflict, let alone tragedy, in any story. "Why couldn't they just make it work out okay?" she will ask through near-tears. She loves Mr. Putter and Tabby and the Wellie Wishers books, and anything about animals or anything silly, like Amelia Bedelia. Before I read her a chapter book, she'll often ask if anyone dies in it. 

She's excellent at puzzles, writes very neatly when she takes the time to (which is not always), spells quite well, knows her way around a globe, and plays piano quite well. Now that she's conquered reading, site-reading music is no biggie, and she likes to sound out her own little tunes. 

Naomi also enjoys singing and occasionally turns everyday moments into a musical. Which is sweet, and especially hilarious when she turns on her Italian/Spanish impression (on meatball night it's Italian, when Matt's doing Spanish with the kids is more Spanish) and kind of sing-songs her words. She cracks us all up.

Although Naomi's a lovely caretaker, she can't stand anything human-body. If one of us so much as mentions the word "blood" or "bone" she covers her ears and begs us to stop. She's totally good with Band-Aids, though. And will handle slimy things that I run from.

While not super adventurous (she's still learning to bike and swim), Naomi can be coaxed into trying new things by getting used to the idea. Except foods--nothing can convince her to try new foods unless they fit into the "fats, oils and sweets" category of the food pyramid. When I mentioned that it can be convenient to try to branch out, she replied, "But Mommy, it will be easier when I'm an adult!" She kinda had me there....

Naomi's been described as super sweet, easygoing, and great with younger kids by her friends' parents and grandparents. In fact, she loves hanging out with kids a couple years younger than she is, to indulge the part of her that enjoys being young, to smile at their cute antics, and, probably, to feel big for a change. But she also gets along great with her friends who are her own age, and even a few of the older girls' friends, making her a well-rounded little person.

She has a silly sense of humor, and sometimes, the zanier the better. When she gets into a fit of giggles, she finds it hard to stop--and we find it hard not to join in. She's incredibly ticklish still. She's also generous with her friends and sisters, especially when it comes to sharing windfall treats.

Naomi loves dot-to-dots and mazes, and makes up her own crafts. She will do anything to check a box in her schoolwork and likes a good worksheet. She can easily tie shoes, catch a minnow or toad, make herself any animal costume, kind of jump rope and hula hoop, roller skate across the kitchen (but not exactly with correct form), make up jokes, solve multi-digit addition with renaming if she really thinks about it, memorize poetry, empty the dishwasher, put away laundry, name continents, oceans and some states, make herself a PBJ, sew (kind of), and braid her dolls' hair. She still gets really creeped out by being alone on any level of the house or in her room, but we're working on it.

Naomi is alternately a little sunshine trying to cheer everyone up, and a hard, competent worker. She decompresses by crafting, reading, or taking care of animals, and she's definitely an introvert. If she's too tired, she worries, but otherwise generally roles with things pretty well--as long as she's not taking them personally or anxious about change. 

The girl has been wearing 2 French braids every day for a full year. I think she likes how they feel. She also still sticks to dresses, with exactly one skirt-shirt outfit she finds acceptable, plus her American Heritage Girls uniform. She likes new clothes and shoes, but they come with their own stresses--especially if she loves the look but finds it uncomfortable. Fortunately, her preferences are easy to work around, and are loosening up a bit.

Naomi is a little sweetheart of a girl, and we're so blessed by her, every day!

To divert you away from the saccharine sweetness of this photo,
I'll mention that the kitty ear headband was too small on Kalina
and caused actual, physical pain. She's that good of a sister.

A Day in the Life: Summer Edition

Happy 4th! We're getting ready
to see some fireworks!

I've heard of parents who dread summer, because the kids are home so they have to actually parent for hours on end. For me, it's exactly the opposite: kids are home, and all I have to do is be a parent! (And usually some freelance work, and deep-cleaning, and plan the school year, and catch up on photo albums, etc.)

I've been waiting to try to blog about a typical summer day, until we actually had a typical summer day. And finally I realized there's no such thing as a typical summer day. They're all different. So here's today, a Wednesday in the middle of a relatively quiet week:

The day starts at 12:39 a.m., when I hear a child get up, sense through my eyelids that she's turned on the hall light, and hear her enter the bathroom. I've been asleep probably about 45 minutes, so this feels downright painful. My mind races, wondering how she'll manage the kittens, who sleep in that bathroom with the door closed, and hoping she doesn't end up having to chase them through the house to put them back in. Because that means I'll be chasing them through the house as well. I also hope she's put the lid back down on the toilet, because whenever someone forgets to, we usually discover that the hard way: via freaked wet kitten tearing through the house. Fortunately, the only thing she forgets is to turn off the hall light, and that's relatively easy for me to remedy. Silence again, and fortunately I make it right back to sleep. Most nights this doesn't happen, but middle-of-the-night wakings never really end for a mommy.

At 7:00, I let the kitties out of their bathroom and into the girls' bedroom because they're far better alarm clocks and child-wakers than I am. We're tempted to let the girls sleep, but that so often leads to the older girls outlasting at least Matt at night. Technically my goal is to get them used to 6:30 or 6:45, and COVID, with all its cancelled activities, will help with that. Since it's summer, and there are kittens, the girls wake up and get out of bed fairly easily. 

They dive right into their morning jobs, which also didn't happen very easily before kittens. Naomi handles all the bunny caretaking, Elise empties the dishwasher and assists her sisters with their jobs, and Kalina does the kitten caretaking, including scooping and sweeping litter every day. I help with any deep cleaning. They also dress and get ready for breakfast. Nobody makes their bed because everyone sleeps on top of the covers since it's summer and that's easier. I have tried to fight this battle, but can't argue with the logic. The only real downside is that whenever I wash sheets, I'm actually washing comforters, which are bulky and huge, but honestly much easier than putting clean sheets on any lofted or bunked bed--which describes all three of our girls'. So again, I can't blame them.

Today, they manage the routine super seamlessly with no crises. Today. Elise tells me she had to remind her sisters that they're supposed to get dressed and have their jobs done before they come to the breakfast table, and inwardly I cheer as things move efficiently along, During breakfast, we do some reading and discussing, and go over a plan or two.

The kittens love snoozing in
our scrap box.

It helps when Elise is highly motivated by an activity she's looking forward to, and this morning she's done in record time because she's excited about making homemade cards with rubber stamps and embossing equipment. Even though it's a messy, high-maintenance activity that I know Naomi will need lots of help with when she inevitably joins in, I give Elise the go-ahead to get started as I've been promising fancy crafts like embossing all summer. Her sisters soon join her, and Elise's good mood starts to dwindle as she finds she has to share supplies. "I was planning to do this alone," she grumbles, eyeing me meaningfully. But nothing is done alone in this house, Child! Haven't you learned that? Except possibly when I clean bathrooms--nobody joins me then.

Naomi soon moves to just stamping, which is thankfully more fun for her at this point and much simpler for me. "Where can I hang this so everyone will see it?" she wonders, showing me a paper full of kittens, puppies, bunnies and paw prints. Her papers are now hung all over the living room. Kalina makes a very artistic card or two, but she mostly had her fill yesterday when she and Elise embossed while Naomi had her virtual piano lesson. Many of the stamps we're using, as well as embossing powder, are from my childhood, so we enjoy chatting about that a bit. Kalina and Elise are each working on making a set to use as thank-you notes and general cards. Naomi is just having fun.

Meanwhile, I straighten the house, put the couch pillows back on the couch, and make moves toward my computer, which I'm using a lot these days for an intense freelance assignment I'm in the thick of, planning for the school year, completing the 2019 photo album, and all the other things. I have to give up--there's too much going on.

If you look closely, you can see a raccoon
snitching from a bird feeder. It soon
waddled calmly away.

When Kalina's finished stamping, she looks aimless so I ask her if she wants to work on the board game we're creating together. It's called Symbiosis: Pond, and she came up with the idea, albeit prairie-themed initially, when we were hiking through a mini prairie together. We spend 15 minutes or so brainstorming ideas for different game events, and make some good progress. We attack things from entirely different angles, but agree about enough things that we're able to make it work. 

Afterward, Naomi reads a book about dogs aloud to me while I redo her French braids. She insists on French braids every day, and has for nearly a year now. I don't mind too much since they're cute and keep her hair neat, but it takes a good 10 minutes every day.

Hiking the arboretum one lovely
morning!

I decide I need to Get Something Done, even though it's summer (especially since it's summer?), and I begin to get out and assemble the drawer organizer I picked up for Elise's desk yesterday. Everyone wants to help, so I become management, and Kalina and Elise are labor. We get stuck on jamming the castors in, so we save them for later/Daddy, and instead put kittens in the drawers, which the kittens don't seem to mind, and would quite possibly choose for themselves, if they were allowed a choice in the matter.

After this, Elise finishes stamping, and I make everyone clean up together. It's a lot to clean up. I straighten the house and put the pillows back on the couches, then finish the little bits of cleanup they miss.

Some mornings, and especially at the beginning of summer when it's all so fresh, the girls all go off and play with Legos, or put together a play, or do crafts independently, or go outside, or whatever, while I can tackle my work, but this is destined to be more of a scattered morning for me as we zip from one activity that needs mild amounts of help or supervision to another. I could of course, put a stop to it, but it's summer so I don't mind too much. 

As no one is making any moves to doing anything interesting on their own, I push my work aside and move on to another project that's on my list. I've been promising the girls since June that we'll make garden stones together to put in the strawberry patch for easier picking, and we've purchased the supplies. We're finally going to get started, but that means we need to figure out our designs. So the girls open all the bags and begin piecing together the stones, mosaic style. I'm only needed for initial organization, so I sneak off for 20 minutes and get some freelance work done, and shoot off a few emails, and begin this blog. 

I listen as the girls argue about stones, and resolve it themselves. A win! They finish their designs and we take pictures, then organize and put away the stones. Naomi gets upset because it's found that a kitten has chewed up a puzzle piece from her favorite puppy puzzle, which she was completing on the floor. Since she's had it out several days and I've warned her multiple times that if she doesn't keep her pieces picked up, the kittens will bite them, I don't feel too bad for her, but I help her put in some pieces for a few minutes to jumpstart finishing it up. She bemoans the mishap for a bit, then proudly finishes the puzzle within 20 minutes or so.

Kalina has been playing with kittens and the box from Elise's drawer organizer, and Elise has been re-organizing her desk.

Unbelievably, it's nearly lunchtime. I decide on bagels because it seems like we've done everything else recently. Elise pops in and helps a bit, and then everyone else shows up. Shortly after sitting down, I realize it's about to rain, and I wish I'd made them all go outside this morning, since it could rain most of the afternoon. Regardless, I then realize we haven't harvested any blackberries lately and I want to do it before the grass is all wet. We all interrupt the end of lunch to do so, and find our biggest harvest yet--about 15.

After lunch, I make everyone tackle our job for the day. During the summer, I try really hard to make sure they're working and building life skills. Today, our job is to clean and vacuum the van, which really needs it. They've done this plenty of times before, but never very well, so we're going to practice more often. They spend more time playing around than cleaning, but progress is made and, besides, we can do it again next week.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine contacts me for advice about homeschool curriculum, since she's having a baby Friday and her girls' school still doesn't know what they're doing for next year. She's homeschooled before, and would rather homeschool again than do virtual school, but doesn't want to wait to figure it out, for obvious reasons. I send her photos and help her explore options, all via text and while checking on the van-cleaning project. Then another friend texts me with virtually the same question, but for her preschooler.

Afterward, we embark on the big event of the day: taking Kalina to the music store to switch out her too-small viola for a bigger size. We tried to do this last week when she auditioned for the orchestra, but as my temperature was elevated, most likely due to a hot car, I wasn't allowed inside to work on the instrument contract. My temperature had returned to normal by the time we arrived at home, but this still necessitates a second trip, and 22-minute drive. I blasted the air conditioning, even though it was a cool day. 

We have baby skinks in our
yard!

At the shop, we wear our masks without any kind of a fuss, and are not temperature checked this time. We are quickly shown two violas, and Kalina is measured against each. Elise and Naomi explore the music books, finding some for a few of their favorite soundtracks. We wonder if they would be good to think about. Elise and Naomi start to get a little bit too active for a music store, though, so they begin telling stories to each other. Thank goodness. We get everything we need, I fill out the detailed form and agree to care for the instrument, and we're on our way.

After acquiring the viola, since we are out anyway and there is a frozen yogurt shop nearby and we've had no frozen yogurt probably since last summer, at least as a group, and it's nearly snacktime, and it's cool enough we can easily eat in the car, we...you guessed it...had some frozen yogurt. The kids were amused by the fact that they weren't allowed to approach the toppings bar, and I had to explain, in my most blame-free, diplomatic tone, of course, that not all kids are clean and tidy when it comes to yogurt toppings. Kalina chooses a yummy-looking watermelon and pineapple sorbet combo, and Elise and Naomi both opt for cookies and cream. The each try a little of my favorite, pistachio. Their creations are variously topped with gummy frogs, Nerds, and mango poppers. 

We enjoy our yogurt in the car, and Elise names her gummy frogs John and Trissa before eating them. When we arrive home, we read a chapter of Peter Pan before I send everyone off to presumably do their own thing. Kalina digs around on the bookshelf for the next Harry Potter, and Elise tells me about a hanging decoration she's planning to make using the extra stones from our stepping stone project. Naomi is bored. They popcorn in and out, jolting me out of any concentration I'd gained every 2 minutes or so. Clearly, this was not going to be a highly productive day. But it's summer, and sometimes these scattered, unplanned, unproductive days are just what we need. Just not too many of them in a row...

Meanwhile, my freelance client keeps. sending. notes. about work that needs to be done. It won't stop. This was all day yesterday, too. Everybody needs support, all the time, immediately.

When you are a cat in our house, you
get covered and read to while you nap.

At 4:58 I realize it's finally quiet with some promise of it remaining quiet for more than 2 minutes. The older girls are upstairs and Naomi is drawing happily. Then I hear Matt's car door slam, and he jolts in the door with stories. I realize I have a conversation in front of me, music practice to supervise and supper to get so I give up on the idea of getting more than a smattering of computer work done. It'll have to wait until late tonight--not ideal, but I'm really, really used to it.

After chatting a bit with Matt, I tackle piano with Naomi, for whom the instrument was proving difficult while her brain was fully occupied by learning to read. Lately, however, she's been laser-focused (when she's actually playing and not distracted) and is zipping through her books. I've noticed this with the other girls, too--their music-reading skills dwindle when they're working really hard on reading, but then pick up again when they're comfortably reading. Naomi still likes me to be with her for moral support, plus she's really still learning. Since their lesson was just the day before and all her pieces are new, she needs me the whole time, but by the end of the week, she'll be fine on her own. She also has been enjoying noodling around on her own, and playing old pieces.

Naomi draws some more while I chop veggies and put pasta on to boil and then I send her up to round everyone else up and tell them it's dinnertime. Elise comes right away and fills me in on the past hour while grating Parmesan cheese for me. She's been singing lullabies to Poppy, and working on the craft project she told me about earlier, using the broken stones from the stepping stone project. She's gluing broken halves together, and then hanging them from a popsicle stick frame to make a hanging decoration. It sounds really cool. 

The rest of the family trickle in. They are surprised to see that there's not food ready to dish up, despite the fact that I'm trying to train everyone that dinnertime means finishing helping getting dinner, not necessarily seating down to a fairytale feast that has magically appeared. We divvy up the last-minute jobs, which they are at least well-trained enough to actually do without much of a fuss, and are able to well, even if they sometimes choose not to out of spite. It's only taken, oh, say, six months. Naomi folds the napkins to look like bunnies. 

The older girls heartily dish up plain pasta for themselves (but at least it's whole-wheat!), along with garlic bread and strawberries. Naomi opts for garlic bread and strawberries--pretty typical. Towards the end of the meal, Matt ropes them into doing a short Spanish lesson, which they all gripe about with gusto, which annoys him no end (I totally understand--this occasionally happens during school, too). I keep every one of my thoughts to myself, grateful that he's the one pushing this through and not me, and grateful that it's getting done, and grateful that they are actually picking it up, and also grateful that I'm picking it up while I start the dishes. And grateful that they're hearing the message of, "Stop whining, this is not the end of the world unless you make it be" from someone other than me.

After dinner, we usually take a long walk as a family, or occasionally play a game. Our walks usually end up strung out, with either Elise and Naomi running ahead, or Naomi and I lagging behind, or Kalina and Matt in earnest conversation about something super-interesting, or any other combination. Naomi likes to tell fill-in-the-blank stories, as she calls her homemade, on-the-spot Mad Libs, or Fortunately-Unfortunately stories, which always end up taking us to other planet and/or getting drenched in endless rain. We often to walk to the "origin," which is where the girls think all the crinoid fossils in the stream originate before getting washed down. We have found some nice ones in the bank there, but I'm pretty sure they're elsewhere, too. The girls are usually prepared with wading sandals, and occasionally nets and buckets.

This night, however, it's raining and, besides, there's a lot of music practice left to do, so we focus on finishing up. They all enjoy their instruments, but not the practice, so there's a lot of dawdling. I start with Elise.

Elise is thoroughly enjoying her voice lessons and is doing very well, possibly fighting Matt's genes as singing does not come naturally and she was not blessed with perfect pitch, through no fault of her own. Although she's only had a couple in-person voice lessons in addition to months of virtual ones, I can tell she's grown a ton, both in her abilities and her confidence, and she's sounding great. But she'd still rather play with kittens and chat with me than practice. Still, we make it fun, especially since she's excited about her new piece. I play along with her to help her with pitch-matching and to help her stay on task, social creature that she is. 

Elise and Naomi are then tasked with getting ready for bed. Naomi usually accomplishes this task in record time. Elise usually has too many other things to do.

It's now Kalina's turn to try out her new viola. It's bigger, so we discuss whether or not to put on tapes for her fingers. And we admire the brand-new, shiny rosin it came with, and she fits on the nice, new shoulder rest. She hardly played the viola in the store, probably being shy of playing in front of the person helping us. So she's absolutely delighted when she hears the richer, deeper tone of a larger instrument, and even more happy to hear that the next size up will be richer and deeper yet. Although we have a new book for her--the book she'll use in orchestra this fall--she wisely decides that since her new instrument will take some getting used to, she should go back and play older, familiar pieces. Kalina doesn't need much help, so I finish cleaning up the kitchen.

Naomi is now finished getting ready for bed, so I make my way upstairs to read to her. We're reading through the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books, which are great fun, albeit sometimes eyebrow-raising. Naomi's getting an education not only in which types of poor behavior annoy parents (super helpful, I've already seen improvement!), but also in parenting practices on the 1940s. I have to explain a few things as we read to clear up her occasional confusion. But the writing just sparkles, and we both get in a few giggles. Elise, who's heard them all before, is rereading them herself. 

Matt is reading The Hobbit to the older girls, which he tried to read to them a year or two ago. Kalina enjoyed it then, but Elise was quite scared and refused to finish. Now, they're both loving it. They always let the bunny out while they read, occasionally letting Posy in as well (but not Poppy, as Poppy wants too much to play with the bunny), and sometimes Elise crafts.

After we finish our portion of Hello Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, I help Naomi write in her diary. She's been keeping a diary since early May, and is tonight starting her second notebook, which she's torn all the used pages out of since she's had this notebook for some time. Although she occasionally writes her own entries, and does very well with them, I usually take dictation just to speed things up since it's bedtime. Every entry, she lists what she ate for each meal (which I find astonishing, given the fact that she doesn't enjoy most foods) and then something special that happened that day, which today will be the frozen yogurt. Tonight, Elise is in the room and comments on some of the things she writes in her diary, which never include what she ate. I succeed in smoothing this slight bit of snarkiness. Since it's her first entry in her second notebook, she wants to do the writing. She occasionally wants help with spelling, but I'm heading to the basement soon to talk via Zoom to a friend I'm doing a book study with, so Elise good-naturedly agrees to be available. Elise also volunteers to read the last half of the chapter we were on in Mrs. Piggle Wiggle aloud to Naomi. I remind them of lights-out time and pass out hugs, and then say goodnight to Kalina. It's about 8:30, which is perfect.

Naomi gets scared without anyone else in the room, so I usually require Elise to read with her booklight until she turns out her light, while trying to hide it from Elise that that's what I'm doing. I think she knows. Kalina does the same eventually, but often has to shower or practice her viola even after The Hobbit, plus I think it's good for Kalina to have a privilege that Elise doesn't have. Elise usually gets annoyed at having to read in bed starting at 8:30 or 8:45 or so, but I personally think she has it pretty good, and quite reasonable. And eventually Naomi won't be afraid anymore--Kalina grew out of it just fine. 

Kalina sewed this lovely sleep
mask because sometimes Elise's
headlamp is bright when Kalina
is trying to sleep. Hmmm...

Many nights, Naomi pops down for a second hug, Elise brings a kitten down just to say hi, and Kalina comes over to chat after viola practice. There's also often some whispering, giggling, and storytelling. This is sweet and usually doesn't get out of hand. Usually. Even with whispering and giggling, they're virtually always well-rested and good-natured the next day, so it seems as though there's not actually a problem. 

When I check on everyone at 11:30 or so (I had a LOT of work to do after my call), they're all in dreamland. Occasionally the older girls, and especially Elise, are not if I come in earlier, but we're used to the routine of just turning on the headlamp for 5 minutes and reading and trying again. Usually if I check on them 20 minutes after that, they're out. 

And that's a wrap! 

Kalina is 12!

Happy birthday, Kalina!!!

Kalina has gained the distinction of being the first coronavirus birthday of the immediate family! Woohoo! Or, not so woohoo?

Fortunately, many of Kalina's interests are simple to fulfill and often take place outdoors, so her personality aligns well with pandemic precautions. We celebrated with kayaking, a Dairy Queen ice-cream cake, opening presents, enjoying the presents, and a deck dinner (Jason's Deli delivery) with Grandpa. She thanked me profusely at the end of the day for such a nice birthday.

On Monday, a few friends came over for stream exploration and a cookie cake outdoors. We were super grateful to be able to do something fun with friends that was still relatively safe.

After our adventures in
lighting the ice-cream cake,
we had to take pictures
pretty quickly.

Plus, there are kittens.

Kalina is 12! The year has been nothing but sweet. She's fun to be around, easygoing, imaginative, and usually very accepting of her little sisters (although everyone has their limits).

Kalina is noticeably able to work hard without complaining--which usually shows up in her schoolwork. She's more focused than ever before (although the kittens are going to pose her biggest challenge yet). And she's more of a box checker than I would have imagined. It's not that she likes work--and I'm never allowed to forget that for long--but she likes it better if it can be erased from the board when she's finished. Don't we all?

She's super organized, too. With a nightstand and shelves looking much better than her sisters', she's already saying she needs to reorganize them. I think she enjoys it, she's great at it, and I am secretly hoping she'll tackle a few of my drawers and cabinets. Will trade dinner for organization.

Birthday girl sisters make the day!!

Kalina's mind is sharp and she is quick to point out contradictions or things that don't add up. Despite being abstract, she highly values logic and reason. She has no patience for gimmicks or tricks, and can spot them a mile away.

Still dreaming of walking on the ceiling (there's all that empty space!), designing unnecessarily complex systems, and creating whole rooms with specially made shelves for kitties and other critters, Kalina's imagination only seems to be growing. I can't wait to see where it takes her. Her art teacher has noted her creativity, but Kalina still only takes on art projects in a group setting. Kalina's piano teacher has also commented on her musical abilities and the way she always not only nails her scales and arpeggios, but also builds on them. Logic + creativity. When she hears classical music, she's laser-focused on it.

We didn't get pictures of us
canoeing, but we did get
pictures afterward in the
really fun tree we like to
climb. This time, we got to
hang out with baby robins.

At 12, she's not super outgoing, but gets along well with and enjoys people she's with. She's a loyal friend, although she definitely needs alone time to process. Books are still very much her go-to, and she never minds re-reading a book, even a half-dozen times in close succession.

Kalina enjoys big group projects--she loves working with the food pantry, setting up a campsite, building a pet enclosure, or anything like that she can be immersed in. And she's an idea person, so if there's a problem to be solved, she's likely to come up with creative solutions. Not all of them practical, but sometimes.

Kalina can memorize like nobody's business--words, facts, or music. In fact, she'll often do her piano lessons muchly from memory, not always opening the book until after she's played the piece and they've talked through some of the details.

She's taken on the viola this year, which she plays nicely but is getting burned out on because she's not yet part of an orchestra. We're really hoping that happens this fall. She's proud of all her musical abilities, including her perfect pitch, but gets frustrated with the daily work involved.

She flosses daily without being told. To the point that even the dentist had no words for her.

Kalina dug right into building tracks.
They're getting increasingly complex
as she learns all the techniques.

What she likes: puzzles and games, watching the funny things animals do, all our outdoor activities, logic and sudoku puzzles, vacations, camping, places that look like enchanted forests along the trail, guacamole, science fiction/fantasy, the number 64, long and complicated words, making poison dart frog tanks, chaos that she creates, telling elaborate stories, volunteering, birds of prey, Lego minifigures, the globe, the Periodic Table of the Elements, black holes and other astronomy quandries, hard-boiled eggs, quotes from books or famous people, marble tracks, the Archimedes screw, and cats, still.

What she doesn't like: pink, technology/screentime (except the occasional high-quality movie), picture books that are written in terrible rhyme, shopping, jewelry, doing her laundry, the thought of driving someday, work that's not her idea, pop music, sports (except the occasionally family game of something), a page full of math problems, contradictions, busywork, and bananas, unless they're on a peanut-butter sandwich and accompanied by marshmallows.

Kalina is a rare treasure of a girl--firmly down to earth, but with her head soaring in the clouds. Love you, Sweetie!

The traditional picture that I wedge
myself into every year.

Naomi wiggled her way into Kalina's
birthday blog thanks to her wiggly
tooth, which she saved for Grandpa
to pull, having heard stories from Elise.
Turns out, she didn't need to worry
about saving it, as it was more firmly
in place than we thought! She was so
brave!! Way braver than I was, not
being able to watch or listen.

The kitties liked Kalina's
new camp chair, too.

Okay, so we weren't 6 feet apart the
entire time, but we were for most of it.

Our traditional Jason's Deli meal
without the deli.

Outdoor gifts!

Kittens!

In a rare, still, together photo. Posy,
with color on her front paws, is in
front. She usually is.

We're a kitten house!

I actually never thought this would happen. I believed that all of our caged pets had crowded out any chance of owning cats again, and I was resigned to that probability.

But if I didn't think this would happen, Elise REALLY didn't think it would, especially once she first laid eyes on the kittens who were destined to become "ours." If you ask her, full centuries turned over between Sunday evening, when she first found out about the kitten possibility, and Wednesday afternoon, when we brought them home. [Which is ironic, because when we asked her how long we should wait before bringing home a kitten, she thought 2 weeks sounded about right.]

We cleared out a cabinet in the
bathroom for the kittens to call their
own. We removed a door and put a
beach towel in the bottom, and it's
one of their favorite places to sleep.

It's not that Kalina and Naomi were less excited; they were simply less laser-focused, with emotions not super-glued to the idea of receiving these little furballs into our home. There are benefits to both types of personalities, for when we need varying levels of enthusiasm in our world. Which we do.

Thanks to COVID-19 regulations, it's difficult to visit adoptable pets right now. To do so, you should:

1. Always remember to choose a pet based on its personality, not its looks.
2. Peruse a database of adoptable cats/kittens and their photos. Or possibly only their names.
3. Fill out a detailed application form. Submit it.
4. Line up a meet-and-greet with the foster family (in the case of kittens) and the shelter.
5. Drive 20-25 minutes, preferably without kids to minimize contact and, well, what poor Elise went through.
6. Meet the one or two kittens you arranged to see.
7. Repeat for each additional kitten/littermate pair.
8. Choose based on personality, if the one you decide you want is actually still available. Or, just take the one you're currently holding to save yourself a lot of trouble.

After "unboxing," the kittens
explore their new room. Their
horizons wouldn't be much
expanded until the following
day.

Matt and I did manage to skirt a lot of this by visiting the SPCA shelter, which actually had adoptable kittens in-stock. It's like the Target of kittens, whereas the other places are more the fine furniture store. We didn't visit the other places--we tried to, but learned the above rules the hard way, by showing up for our appointment with 0 kittens to meet and not even a cat, as the only one present didn't like people. I realize people are very busy at these shelters, right? And that's why they didn't call me to let me in on all this after I scheduled the appointment, right?

Fortunately, the SPCA had plenty of kittens, including several sets of littermates. All of these had been fostered until a few days previous, so that they'd grow up social. And pretty much all would be adopted within days, so none would be spending more than about a week in the shelter. Because kittens.

Sister picture!

We were initially interested in Poppy and Posy because they are sister kittens, but we were introduced to others as well, including their sweet brother, Bud. (Get it? Get it? Poppy, Posy and Bud?) We liked them immediately due to everything from their cute/unique markings (true!), as well as to their reputation as being "not quite as crazy as these other kittens," who, apparently, cause complete chaos in their cages overnight. Plus, Poppy cuddled up so sweetly with me, and both seemed okay with lap-sitting (we weren't allowed to let them roam the floor). We interacted with other kittens as well, but were quickly sold on the orange-and-white sweeties we'd held first. All three of them, because you can't leave one alone, right? And Matt's more of a softie than people give him credit for.

Look, Mom, I'm holding
one, I'm holding one!

After we arrived home and had dinner, we revealed what we'd been up to. The girls, who'd lately been petitioning for guinea pigs because they get along with bunnies and had written off kittens as being an impossible dream, could hardly believe their ears, but actually did seem to sleep at night--something we wouldn't have predicted. In the morning, I showed them the pictures of the actual kittens we were considering, and from that point forward, all conversations led to kittens.

Somehow, Bud got adopted between Sunday late afternoon and Monday late morning, which honestly was probably fine. But Wednesday afternoon, after an agonizing wait ("I honestly don't think I'll survive." -a totally serious Elise), the last part of which, in the car outside the SPCA because they weren't allowed to enter, was possibly the longest hour of the girls' lives, the kittens came home with us, meowing all the way.

Each girl was dressed in a cat-themed outfit, something that had caused us not a little stress that morning as the only short-sleeved cat gear belonged to Kalina (with a whopping 4 shirts!) and none fit Naomi in a way she deemed acceptable. Fortunately, another girl in the neighborhood, whose family owns three cats, was willing to pass down a Hello Kitty dress to Naomi, which she accepted out of sheer desperation (the girls no longer like Hello Kitty, although they really should because the cartoon kitty single-handedly got Kalina through her long "everything I wear must have cats on it" phase. Which apparently hasn't quite wound down).

Possibly the happiest girl in the world.
Because that's where enthusiasm
sometimes lands you.

We unboxed the cats in the girls' bathroom--their new "safe room," where it was recommended they spend the next few hours or days, until they're comfortable exploring further. As a side benefit, this whole concept got the girls to uncomplainingly deep-clean the room anticipating the arrival of its new occupants.

The bathroom made a great safe room while we got to know the kittens--but a rather cramped "Let's all hang out together in here in the summertime" room. Especially when we added a large litter box, a scratching post, food, water, a couple toys and some hyper, overstimulated kitties/kiddies. It wasn't exactly my worst nightmare, since my best dreams actually do include kittens, but I admit I questioned a lot of things in some of the most intense moments.

Does it get any better than this?!?
Poppy actually began her sleep
journey on the other side of Kalina,
and migrated across in her sleep.
Kalina missed part of lunch to
soak up the fact that a real, live
kitten was napping on her lap while
she read.

The kitties immediately spotted the one secretive place in the room--a cabinet we'd cleaned out for them--and made a beeline inside. From there, they were fairly quickly tempted out by the toys we'd picked out at Wal-Mart the night before. Play therapy worked, and soon our kittens were allowing themselves to be petted and occasionally hoisted up a little off the ground by an inexperienced pair of hands (but more often by mine, because I'm actually a little selfish when it comes to kittens).

Possibly more stressful than introducing two freaked-out kittens to a crowded bathroom was introducing three finally-my-dreams-are-coming-true-in-this-very-moment children to the two young cats. I do believe we waited more than 10 minutes before a plaintive "I haven't gotten to pick one up yet!" was whined, but it couldn't have been much longer. Nevertheless, despite emotions upon emotions, dreams slowly did come true, as everyone felt as though that had at least one bonding moment with the kittens. Eventually, I was able to convince my girls to give their pets a little rest in their safe room. And then we could all finally breathe again, because we stepped out into the rest of the house, and left at least a few emotions in with the kitties.

Poppy went from playful to
zonked. This is one comfy
kitten!

The kittens, who'd been used to a cage, were delighted to have the run of a room. We could hear them chasing homemade and store-bought toys all over the place. We visited them often. Fortunately, the first night went perfectly, as have all the rest--so I think we're out of the woods.

The next day, the kittens ventured out a little, carefully supervised. They haven't seen much of Andy bunny, but the unofficial visit left both animals scared (Andy and whichever kitty crept in to his room). Eventually, we allowed them downstairs. Posy showed more confidence than Poppy, who returned to her "safe room," or simply meowed for help if she didn't know how to find it. But soon, both were tearing around as though they owned the place. Don't tell them, but they kinda do.

Kitten watches bunny. It was
only later that everyone
started freaking out about
each other.

We decided to keep their names, Poppy and Posy, at least at the writing of this blog. Although I still want to change them to Charlotte and Fern (of Charlotte's Web fame), and I reserved the right at the outset of this grand escapade to name the kitties. The girls are in negotiations for moving that right to middle-name rights, due to unfairness claims, but the jury's still out.

Their personalities have begun to shine. Poppy, who was so cuddly in the shelter, acted a little more shy and skittish with us at first. Posy, however, was the perfect mix of friendly and curious, virtually from the get-go. (I can speak this way because they're not my actual children.) Poppy eventually warmed up, and is intensely playful, but often in need of reassuring cuddles. She's also now the most likely to cuddle up next to us on a couch, even traveling across a lap as she sleeps (just ask Kalina!).

Matt built a giant cat tower that allows them to climb, and will hopefully preserve our couch. I'm sewing a cat bed and, eventually, a cat tent and hammock. And the girls keep making cat toys out of pipe cleaners, feathers, and yarn, especially Naomi who is delighted to have someone to craft for.

Matt's cat tower, with two
kittens set to conquer it!
They only made it to the
top today!

For at least this week or so, "kittens!" are an excuse to stop whatever we're doing and come look at the cute thing they're doing. Having a kitty on your lap is a well-accepted reason to be late to a meal. 

The girls LOVE the kittens. No really, they LOVE them. Sometimes overly much. The kitties can barely walk through a room for being scooped up, sometimes just for the sheer novelty of being able to scoop up a kitten. They are learning to deal with it patiently, because they also get played with, and petted and, of course, fed. And despite the fact that they occasionally kick each others' heads while holding them in strangle-holds, they kittens seem to love each other, too.