"The Terrible Twos" for Mickey Kitty

Given that cats and dogs mature faster than babies, I would guess that Mickey Kitty is now in the "terrible twos" stage of kittenhood.

He is discovering all sorts of things around the house and I can barely keep up with his curiosity and inquisitiveness. Mickey Kitty loves silk flowers, and it doesn't matter that I give him silk flower-buds from old arrangements---- he wants to capture his own, which means stalking and attacking the silk flowers that are in a few vases around the house. He has learned how to pull off a silk bloom without disturbing the rest of the arrangement. He bats his prize all over the house, from room to room, from chair to chair. His favorite place to hide the blooms is in one of my husband's shoes. Ever try to put on a shoe that has been stuffed with pink satin roses?

Mickey also loves the Halloween decorations, especially the orange and black candles that I have in the living room and on the table in the foyer. I don't know how he gets the candles out of the porcelain candleholders, but he manages to do just that, without disturbing the holders. He will take the 12-inch-long candles and hide them behind the pillows of the living room sofa. The candles aren't damaged, but I've noticed a few teeny teeth marks around the pumpkins and ghosts that decorate the candles.

And my poor beaded fruit--- Mickey has discovered my collection of that. He especially loves the purple plums and the red cherries. More than once, I've caught him walking across the living room with a beaded red cherry hanging out of his little mouth. All I have to do is say "Mickey!!" and he drops the cherry, then rolls over onto his back and looks at me upside-down with an innocent look on his face. He has learned to take advantage of the "cute factor" of kittenhood.

It's going to be interesting when we start putting up the Christmas decorations. All my little table-top trees that I have for every room will probably not be ignored by this little kitten. None of our other cats have bothered with our Christmas trees, except that they all like to take a nap underneath the live tree that goes in our living room.

I don't think Mickey will be content with a nap underneath the 10-foot tree.... something tells me that he's not going to be satisified unless he gets to the top of it and pretends he's an angel.