(Way Too) Close Encounters

I’ve been bad about updating Hawk’s blog because he seems to have reached a plateau of comfort here.  He’s fallen into his routine of napping all day and exploring and doing normal cat things all night (like taking my loofa out of my shower and leaving it in the hall?).  His bravery is growing by the day, which is surprising since I was almost certain an innocent mistake on my part would surely set his progress back a few years. 

I came home from work and was calling for Bandit, who usually comes to greet me at the door.  When she didn’t come, I walked downstairs to see a kitty fast asleep on the window sill facing away from the door.  Without thinking much of it, I walked over and wrapped my arms around my precious kitten pie and gave a big hug and kiss.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t Bandit.  In an explosion of shock and fur and most definitely trauma, Hawk went flying forward (away from me, thankfully) and bounced off the wall and under the bed, taking a few picture frames with him.  Naturally, I screamed and whirled around to see Bandit peeking out of the closet like “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO HAWK!?”  

I immediately knelt down and lifted the bed skirt up to apologize to poor Hawk and was greeted with a very angry HISSSSS, which I certainly deserved.  In the midst of me explaining my honest mistake, he got up, turned a circle and went back to sleep.  Oops…

Other than that minor incident, we’ve crossed path on a fairly regular basis each morning when I’m getting up for work.  His curiosity of our daily activities has grown substantially recently.   He is usually out and about when I wake up to take a shower which ends in him running out into the hallway past me and me freezing so as not to scare him.  I also catch him peeking out into the hallway when I’m getting ready for work in the mornings and for bed in the evenings.  He hasn’t figured it out, but having a mirror that reflects into the bedroom is pretty nifty for spying on him peeking. 

Another interesting (and encouraging) thing I’ve noticed of him is that he rarely sleeps under the headboard anymore.  He’s moved out towards the end of the bed where he can see into the hallway.  Baby steps for him, but we’re very impressed with this seemingly small advance. 

He is still easily traceable due to the exorbitant amount of hair he sheds everywhere he goes.  There’s a tie between our bed and Abraham’s bed for where he likes to lounge when the house is quiet during the day. 

So far, he has yet to come upstairs when we are up and about, but Bandit is growing impatient with not having a playmate 24-7.  She has recently started coming upstairs and wandering around, calling to him.  Every once in awhile she will run back to the stairway and call downstairs to him, but the furthest he has come to climbing the stairs is sitting at the bottom and looking up.  She is working hard as an intermediary, and we thank her for her persistence, no matter how selfish her motives are.

In the meantime, we still get that 'wink' from him when we take his picture: