Up to Our Ears in Kittens!

Marmalade and Jasmine take a break from playing together.

Kai meets Marmalade
Marmalade loves to rub Will's hair before bed!

Giving goodnight kisses

Marmalade's Companion

Marmalade got himself a new companion on Friday. Will is calling her "Jasmine" after his friend. She is a bit skittish and shy but is warming up quickly. She is also looking as though she is going to be rather fluffy. Her feet are like little dustmops and her coat is almost tortie colored with shades of orange and brown throughout. She also has some tiny white flecks here and there.

The first night they slept on opposite sides of the box and then by morning they were washing each other, cuddling and playing.

Dan's 70th Birthday Party

The above photo is Will asking Dan about his green hat. This made quite an impression on Will who now announces to people that his birthday "is on August1st" and he will be able to "wear a green hat just like 'that man'."

Follow Me

I still can't believe how similar in coloring Marmalade is to Mandarin. They look like siblings!
Tomorrow Marmalade goes for his bloodwork and will come home with a companion "sister" kitten who is just a week or so older. The rescue director tells me that Marmalade is only about 2 1/2 weeks old. Let's just say that I'm very thankful that she only called to say that there was ONE companion for him. This is enough work as it is!

Marmalade has two boxes that I keep for him with fluffy snuggle blankets inside. I wash and warm them each night in the dryer and since there are two boxes we can rotate them each night with a freshly clean and warmed box before his nighttime feeding. He has his litter changed daily and at this point he seems to have gotten the hang of using his litter box. He peed on Will's mop today but otherwise does pretty well.

Francine came over tonight and is in love with tiny Marmalade. She is hoping that her mom is interested in adopting him.

Hammering

Today I looked out on the porch and Will was hammering with his tiny hammer replica, his discarded shirt laying across the floor. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I took off my shirt because the book says that you need to hammer without a shirt on." I asked him to show me the book and sure enough there is a photo of a man hammering without his shirt!

Cat Update

Marmalade is getting stronger and stronger. Yesterday he drank a couple bottles of milk with ease and after a little bit of help he seems to have figured out how to use his litter box. Last night he spent about an hour with Mandarin playing in the kitchen. Mandarin was charging him gently and swatting at him a little bit. They were playing peek a boo around corners and sniffing each other too. So long as Marmalade does not try to nurse (which he tried a few times) or cuddle, Mandarin seems willing to be around him.

Marmalade Cat

We are the foster family for a tiny orange cat. He needs to be fed by bottle every 2-3 hours and sleeps inside a small cardboard box in Will's room. We are putting our toileting skills to work to train Marmalade to learn how to use his cat box. So far he does an awful lot of loud scratching in the box and then he pees right beside it!

If anyone wants to adopt this cat, I think our friends and family members have priority. Next week he'll likely be joined by another kitten friend. We have no idea what happened to his litter mates or his mother but he seems to be doing just fine. Tonight we put him on Paul and he walked up and licked his nose! He really does seem to love Will and follows him around. I think he is most interested in Will's tiny pink toes at the moment and Will scrambles around the room trying to keep the kitten off his feet!

Jump!

How can we forget to document one of Will's favorite things to do: jump!

Kai Visits!

Molly, Joe and Kai came into town this weekend and it was a full weekend of baby gazing and catching up on our new lives as parents.

Here is a photo of Will at Megan and Patrick's house making homemade ice cream with Iris and Talia. These girls made QUITE an impression on Mr Will because they like to take off their clothes. It didn't take long before all three kids were disrobed and jumping on the couch! He talked about taking off his shirt for days afterwards.

Cole's Crabby Party

Cole and Will sliding down the hill on their bottoms.

Opening gifts

The Crab "Race"!

Cole turned three years old this past week and invited Will to his party on the beach at Camano Island.

Jump City!

George, Gideon and Will met for a morning of fun at this inflatable city for kids. They worked themselves into a sweat running, climbing, and sliding together.

Snail Trails

Will discovered a snail on our sidewalk!

Swim Class

Will has been enrolled in Waterbabies infant aquatics program since he was just 4 months old. We took a brief hiatus when school started and are back again this summer for more swimming skills. The difference this time is that instead of parent-baby swim class, now Will is old enough to go in the pool by himself. We just get to sit in a little chair by the pool and observe him doing all kinds of things that we surely could never teach him ourselves. It is amazing to see how your child responds to another adult. Here in swim class he listens and does things in a much more focused way when he is asked by "Teacher Abby".

As a nearly three year old it seems to me that the infant swimming has done him some good. As a baby he was comfortable submerging underwater and "diving" towards me. He could do safety jumps and backfloats but he didn't seem conscious about these things. Now as an older child he is learning these skills again on his own but there is no fear or reluctance. He tells me after class that he had fun and seems to feel proud about the things that he accomplishes for himself with the gentle prompting and guidance of "Teacher Abby".

This warm water pool should be familiar to him. I often point out to him the little playpen that he used to play in while I took a shower after class. I show him the changing table where we put on his swim suit. I point out the babies there who are learning to swim with their parents. Hard to say what he remembers of this on some level.

Blueberry Season!

Will's favorite accompaniment to his morning oatmeal is blueberries. We are trying to stock up!

Happy Trails: Alpine Lakes Wilderness

Here is Will sitting at our campsite on the last day. We were not allowed to make fires so don't let this photo of a fire ring confuse you!

Here is Will having a lunch break on the Miller River. I love a hike that is full of places to swim around each corner!

The trail was incredibly maintained by WTA with beautiful wooden walkways, switchbacks and wooden staircases one after another to finally level off at 3,000 feet, just above Lake Dorothy.
Checking out a bridge crossing Camp Robber Creek.


This is our campsite on Lake Dorothy, one of the largest of the alpine lakes. Our campsite was right on the clear lake nestled in the huckleberry bushes. As soon as we arrived we were visited by several very bold chipmunks but our food pack hung in a tree all night long without any problems.
Hanging out on Lake Dorothy. The photo below was taken at the end of our hike. We camped just below that ridge on the lake.

Will and I are back from our incredible adventure to the Alpine Lakes. It was an incredible trip albeit the LONGEST 5 mile hike I've ever had! Superlatives fall short to describe the majesty of this 1,000 -year-old forest. The smell itself was breathtaking of vanilla scented oxalis, cedar, mosses... and the beauty of huge fir and cedar trees surrounded by trillium, wild columbine, huckleberries, glacier lillies, marsh marigolds, sword ferns, and even skunk cabbages!