The "K" Syndrome

This past week has brought a lot of changes here -from four new kittens to family fishing on Sunday, Kurt's ever-expanding vocabulary and comprehension skills and even one completed knitting project and another begun. So although this has nothing to do with the chemical element "K," I figure since it involves kittens, kids, Kippers (well, that fish, isn't it?), Kurtis and knitting, I'm in a bit of a "K" element all my very own today.

Several people have commented about the kittens -Suldog suggested I check out Manx or Japanese bobtail cats to see if there is a genetic link to either of these to the two kittens with the stubby little tails. Thanks for the link, Jim. I did look those up and the Japanese Bobtail can immediately be ruled out but maybe there is a slight possibility that the rogue father in this family might have a recessive gene -or maybe Nina, the mother does -that could link them to the Manx cat family.Others have asked to see some pictures of the new babies and Mandy -being the photography fiend she can be at times -had been taking pics of the kittens whenever she had a chance and I just got them downloaded from the camera tonight. So here's some of our new family members!
Here's either a very tired or very bored Nina, the mama cat, with her brood.
Maya, giving a loving pat to one of the babies. Note, Nina's very comfortable having Maya around the kittens and Maya is really happy and excited over the babies too!
Here's all four of the kittens doing a tiny bit of exploring in the new bed Mandy fixed for them and Nina. Nina had the kittens on Maya's big bed, upstairs. A good place in that initially it gave Nina free reign to come downstairs anytime she wanted to use the litter box or have some food but not the best place either because who wants kittens squirming all over one of the beds in the house? Mandy found she had to find a container to put them in and do it quickly too because yesterday, Nina moved the kittens over to an open drawer on Kurt's dresser -filled with his shirts -and then, after Mandy removed them from that hiding place, she moved them again in the middle of the night -over to Mandy and Bill's current room and stashed them under the crib there! So today, Mandy found a nice-sized heavy tote box bottom, lined it with an old pad and some old baby receiving blankets and now, the kittens, as well as Nina, seem to be quite content. Wonder if Nina will try to move them again tonight or in the near future though?

Sunday afternoon, Mandy and BIll took Kurt and Maya, along with the kids' older half-brother and sister out to Black Moshannon State Park to do a little fishing and give the kids a chance to enjoy an afternoon of fun and sunshine.

Here's a few of the pictures Mandy took of that event.
Bill and Shane fishing from a boat dock at Black Moshannon.
Bill, giving Kurtis some instruction in the fine art of fishing!
Of course, Maya had to go see how Shane and Daddy were doing too!
Judging by the look on Maya's face and her hand gesture, I get the feeling she wasn't near as excited about "going fishing" as the guys in the family were.
Sierra, trying to entertain herself, along with two easily bored siblings -Maya and Kurtis. Although, I think the little ones were having a good old time at this point.
Sierra and Kurtis checking out the shoreline.

Yesterday, Bill and Mandy had the kids out in the backyard, playing on the swing set and other toys in and around the backyard. One of the toys that Bill got out of the storage shed was the little plastic tricycle that "Pappy" (Grandpa Wagner) got Maya when she was about 2 1/2-3 years old. When they came back in the house, Mandy brought the trike in with them and Kurtis immediately sat down on it and began trying to ride it. Well, he has no clue, as yet, about the pedals, but otherwise, he really enjoys it a lot. Today, he added "Tricycle" to his vocabulary as he said that word and actually said it quite plainly too.
Here's Kurtis, taking his favorite possession -his "Bear" pillow - for a ride with him on the tricycle. Gotta love that he's wanting to share his fun with "Mr. Bear."

Over the weekend, I did a bit more knitting. Started and finished yet another scarf -this one made with two different kinds of yarns. I don't have a picture of it as yet though. But it's purple fun fur with accent yarn of a nubby-type thread yarn (a generic brand I bought cause I didn't want to spring for a lot of money if I couldn't manage to work with the texture of the stuff) in a purple/lavender shading. I know, once I do try to photograph it, I doubt the camera will pick up very well on the accent threads. Maybe I should have used white for the accent?

Yesterday, I started working on a sweater -hopefully, for Maya. I tend to be a rather slow knitter at times so I'm just hoping I stay with this sweater thing and get it done quickly so I can start back in working on some more embroidery stuff, ya know. I have the back about 3/4 finished so far.

Last night would have been a good night to work on the sweater if I'd had a set of ear plugs. Kurtis fell asleep around 9 or shortly thereafter and things looked good until a little past midnight when he awoke and began to fuss. At first I just ignored him, figuring if I didn't talk to him, he might settle back down on his own, fall back to sleep. But I was wrong. After close to an hour of his crying, I tried to offer him milk, to see if he wanted picked up, needed changed or whatever, and all my moves towards him just set him off even more -kicking, screaming, generally having one major hissy fit. Finally, around 2 a.m., Mandy came down in response to his constant cries of "Unny. Unny? Unny!"

It took her a good 45 minutes before he seemed to settle down enough that she dared go back up to bed. As a matter of fact, when she left him, he was standing in the playpen, waving bye bye to her, all smiles, saying "Nite nite" and "See ya" but that joy was short-lived as within ten minutes, it was business as usual again with the crying and such. I did get him calmed enough that it appeared he was going to snuggle down with Mr Bear and his blanket to go to sleep, so I retired then to my room.

It seemed that no sooner had I dozed off to sleep but I was awakened by a strange thumping kind of noise. Then, I distinctly heard footsteps and a voice that I couldn't quite identify. Half-awake then, I was a bit confused trying to figure out who was walking around the house. Then, all of a sudden, I heard a noise at the door to my room, turned and looked and there stood Kurtis, with Mr. Bear dragging on the floor too!

So, I got up with him, got him resettled -not exactly to his liking but he wasn't being really obnoxious and I went back to bed. Within about five minutes, I heard noises coming again from the living room but only for a couple seconds and it was quiet. However, I waited a bit before getting up to go see if he was in or out of his bed and there he was, seated on the sofa, holding something it appeared he was playing with. But when he saw me, he dropped that and came running over to me and allowed me to put him back in his bed. I decided to try the food routine next then to get him to go to sleep but when I offered milk, he just screamed. So I asked him if he'd like a slice of cheese and that actually brought a positive response.

Well, two slices of cheese and about a half-bottle of milk later, he finally gave up the ghost and was asleep -even snoring! So I finally got back to bed then a little after 4 a.m. Needless to say, I was kind of dragging fanny today thanks to Kurtis and his midnight trials!

So far tonight now, he's been out, like a light, since about 8 p.m. cause he didn't get much nap time in this afternoon so I figure he's pretty well tuckered out tonight too. But, as it is nearing his "witching" hour of midnight, I think I will just close this post now and try to go to bed, hopefully to go to sleep too!

Or if that doesn't happen, I definitely am gonna need a dose of the K element -Potassium, in case you've forgotten you chemical table stuff -and have Mandy go to the grocery store in the morning for some bananas for me. Darned good source of potassium and great energy food -or so they tell me.

And before I forget -remember April is Autism Awareness month!