Yes, she’s had another adventure – this one a lot more relaxing and pleasing for me than the last! Read all about it behind the LJ-cut (put because some people – for some reason that utterly escapes me – might not be interested in reading about my adorable little kitten)!
First of all, a little diagram of the floors of the house… it’s got four “half-floors”:
___2nd Fl_____
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_____1st Fl______
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____Bsmt______
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____SubBsmt______
My room, the “suite/main room” and the laundry room and furnace room are in the “SubBsmt” (sub-basement). The den, Dad’s study, and the downstairs bathroom with the cats’ food is in the “Bsmt”. The living room, the dining room, and the kitchen are on the “1st Fl”, and the rest of the bedrooms and the upstairs bathroom are on the “2nd Fl”. Since Imber and I arrived, she’s mainly stayed down in the sub-basement, mostly in my room, with the occasional foray up to the den (when none of the other animals were there, preferably – which is getting hard now, because the colder weather is setting in, and Thor, whom she hates with a passion, likes the den).
So, as mentioned in my weekly update last Sunday, I’ve started taking Imber up to the living room occasionally. I’m trying to do that a bit every day. A couple of days ago (Thursday night) while I was out at work, Imber apparently wandered up to the den where Mom, Dad and Daph were watching TV three times, including a visit out to the bathroom (the den is right off the stairs leading up from my “main suite”; the bathroom is down a short hall to the back). Good for her!
Well, I got home from work tonight and needed to use the washroom. Looking at Imber, I decided to see if I could coax her out, despite the fact that Thor was in the den and Mew was at the top of the stairs leading from the basement to the kitchen.
To my amazement, it worked! She didn’t even need that much coaxing! I was floored! (In a very, very pleased way, of course.) So she stayed in the washroom with me, then came out, and Mew was down at the bottom of the stairs to the kitchen, watching us. I blocked him with my feet as she slipped carefully around him (not without a hiss or two) and into the den.
Then I started to head up to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate (it’s getting cold here!). After a bit more coaxing, Imber decided to stay up in the den to wait for me; and then, to my astonishment, when I got up the stairs to the kitchen and turned to look, she’d settled in the doorway of the den, right across from Mew, and was just watching me!
At some point while I was waiting for the water to boil, Mew got up and wandered up to the top of the stairs – which luckily kept Sancho (the large dog) from bounding down them as soon as he saw Imber. Everything went surprisingly peacefully, and then when I started downstairs with my drink (and Sancho following me), Imber headed back down to my bedroom.
I’m really, really proud of her right now. She’s been so brave, it’s humbling. She is scared of the other animals, but she put that to one side to follow me. It means a lot. I know I shouldn’t compare her to Brightspot too much (though I still swear she has to be Brightspot’s next life) but that devotion reminds me of my Burmese demon-child. And yet there’s something in there that’s pure Imber, determined to prove herself fully capable to her Mommy-Cat. That cat doesn’t know the meaning of the term “physically handicapped”, and thank goodness for it!
Well, thanks for listening to me ramble on about my kitten. Weekly update coming later today.
😉 tag0