Greta Garbo kitty, originally uploaded by Mad-Eye Melissa.

So the hissy, spitting kitty of Thursday and Friday has been replaced, thanks, I’m sure, in large part to a healthy dose of Lickin’ Whiskers cat treats. …Or Whisker Lickin’s? I can never keep these silly names straight.

Either way, Pumpkin and I are officially Getting Used To One Another, with a touch of Getting To Know One Another and a good amount of Getting To Like One Another. (It’s more of a “love” thing on my end, but don’t tell him — I hear a girl’s supposed to play hard to get.) For example, he’s totally cool with biting my toes at the slightest provocation and climbing the obstacle course I’ve set up for him, and I just rolled him back up onto the bed when he decided that hanging off upside down by the one claw that had gotten stuck in my blanket was a good idea. For the record, he *doesn’t* always land on his feet.

I was gone for a solid 6 hours today, and I decided to let him roam freely… Which he did, much to my pleasure, with no (identifiable) mishaps. I scratched behind his ears a bit (hello, dog?) when I got home and let him get re-accustomed to my presence, and then I fixed up his collar and lead and took him outside with me. He got the tour of the backyard, complete with the smells of my herb garden (“Look, Jas, this is cinnamon basil…And sage… And lavender…” Yeah. I totally did.), an EXTREMELY distant introduction to the pitbulls who live next door, and a romp in the grass — which he seemed to totally enjoy (he is a stray, after all) until the breeze started blowing, at which point he catapulted himself into my lap and hid his head in the crook of my arm.

After that, I may have left him to his own devices a bit too long while I caught up on my blog reading… After about 10 minutes, he decided it was high time to execute his own brand of sneak-attack on my knee. Ahhh, Jasper’s Teeth, how I’d missed you.

Right now, he’s jumping back and forth behind the screen of my laptop, and I think we look a little bit like we’re trying to pull off a Chinese fire drill. He is a special cat. The word “hellion” also comes to mind.

But at the end of the day, I have learned a couple of things about my Pumpkin:
- First, don’t leave him in his carrier longer than he wants to be left in it — you will get a barely audible hiss and a look that plainly says, “And you’ve been where?”
- Second, he sees things. Things that no one else sees. I think he has long conversations in his head, with these things.
- Third, he DOES like having his “kitten belly!” tickled, even if only because it gives him a reason to wrap all four legs around your wrist.
- And last? He will stop anything — ANYTHING — for a cuddle, especially if he’s guaranteed a kiss at the end of it. He is a TOTAL cuddlebug…