I am 11 weeks old now!

Again these are not the longest of entries with many photos because my time today has been split between washing, cleaning, syringe feeding, litter trays, and spending time with one of our ladies who is thinking about going into labour within the next 24 hours so I do have time constraints today unfortunately.

Liquorice continues to grow at a rapid rate and she continues to get under my feet and get into everything she shouldn't which is exactly what I would expect not only from an Oriental Black kitten, but also from an "Ashanti" child. Last night I was getting the new litter out of the cupboard from under the stairs and some of the babies were downstairs and running around and of course the first person to go into the "litter" cupboard that shouldn't, was Liquorice. As she moves so fast, there was no way I could stop her from squeezing behind the litter and food tubs and there was no way that she was going to come out either. To her, this was a brand new little world to explore and until she felt she had seen and sniffed all there was, then, and only then would she come out. It was actually a good 10 minutes before she decided to venture back out to play with everyone else. She really is such a curious little fur child and as of yet, I've not seen her approach anything new with caution or apprehension, she has such confidence in herself that she doesn't believe there is anything in this world worth being scared of.

I do not know why Liquorice insists on poking her tongue out in each set of photos I take of her lately. It's as if she sees the camera and associates the flash with her tongue, who would know! That child has very few manners, really. Today she continued to try to get into the 2nd kitten room because she knows there are new babies in there because if the Nuts are crying, Liquorice sits outside the door with her head tilted to one side, listening to every sound they make and her eyes get wider and wider, the more the Nuts scream. She is such a curious little girl and has to be involved with everything and has to know what is going on all of the time. This really is such a short entry as it's already 1630 and it's been so hectic today and if I don't get the entries online now I never will.

Liquorice continues to join our adult cats every afternoon because she knows realises that I do have a feeding routine and our adults are fed at the same time every day. She figured this out and always manages to be downstairs when it's time for the adults to eat so that she can join them at the plate. I'm not too bothered about this because their evening meal consists of fish, mince, chicken, with some pouch food mixed in, so having a bit of the commercial adult food will not do her any harm at all. Today's photos of Liquorice are incredibly boring because I took photos today after I had done another syringe feed for the Nuts and when I went into the kitten room, most of the babies were sound asleep although poor Liquorice was "Noddy No Friends" because she had the double bunk all to herself as everyone else was either on the chair or on the top of the scratch post. Not that Liquorice minds spending some time on her own because she is a very independent girl and if she wants company, she won't hesitate to seek our her brothers and sisters.

All entries are short today with no photos as I've not had the time to get proper entries online.

Liquorice is too curious for her own good! She knows full well that something is "happening" in the 2nd kitten room because I am in and out of there constantly at the moment because of The Nuts and Amarula. Each time she sees me coming up the stairs, the little minx sits right outside the door of the 2nd kitten room and as soon as I turn the handle, she tries to run into the room. It's such a juggling act to get in the room with my hands full of syringes, feeding mixture, and food for Amarula, while I try to keep Liquorice out. She really is a little bugger. Then this morning as I was cleaning my teeth, she decided that it would be fun to watch what mum was doing so she jumped up onto the bath, up onto the basin, from there up onto the shelf ledge and sat there, watching me the entire time. By the time I had finished, I was feeling slightly unnerved let me assure you because to have a wicked Oriental Black staring at continuously is rather off putting.

Liquorice is her father's daughter (how many times have I said this now)! Talk about laugh, yesterday afternoon, she and London were both play fighting with each other on the base of the large scratch post. Ashanti felt it was time he went and saw what they were doing. He sat on the base of the scratch post, London had her back to him, Liquorice moved closer to her dad, looked him straight in the eye, picked up her right front paw and smacked Ashanti across the face. The look on her father's face was totally priceless and it was definitely a video camera moment. He was stunned. Ashanti is the boss in this house now, he has matured and developed that much and he has such confidence that he runs the entire home, including all of the girls, even the pregnant ones, as well as the neuter boys, and Tuaca. This was the first time that anyone had ever just whacked him one. Now Ashanti, for all his masculinity, is still a soft, loving boy, and he knows that the babies are just that, babies, and that are not part of "his" adult family so to speak. When he recovered from his shock, he lightly tapped London on the bum, and the moment he did this, Liquorice picked up her paw and whacked him again. There was no way she was going to let her father smack one of her playmates. Again, Ashanti was in shock. By this time, I was in fits of laughter. That girl is amazing, and only his own daughter would have the courage and the "I don't care" attitude to smack him. And she didn't back off, she held her ground and after she smacked him for the 2nd time, she looked him straight in the eye as if to say "Go on, I dare you". What did Ashanti do?????????? He smacked London on the bum again. So Liquorice smacked him again and at this point, I left them to it. I know Ashanti well enough to know he would never harm a child, and he did have the good sense to walk away in the end. I reckon Marcelle would be extremely proud of her "grand daughter" :)

Our kitten diaries start off the same again today and all 3 are not very long due to the fact that I had to take our new mummy and babies to the vets today so by the time I had finished the cleaning, did a few loads of washing, cooked all the fish for the mum's, babies, and adult cats, it was time to pack up Amarula and shoot off to the vets. Our babies are not particularly impressed with me today because we had someone here working on the spare room to try and sort out the problem and for the duration of his visit, the babies had to remain in their own room with the door firmly shut. For added protection, a wedge was placed under the door because Drambuie decided to help herself and everyone else out of the room yet again <sigh> Once the work had been finished, the babies' door was opened again and they were given full house access as per normal.

Again today, I am struggling to think what to write about Liquorice. It can be difficut when there is just one baby in a litter, especially when that child is Liquorice because from day to day, she doesn't change. Her personality is well and truly ingrained and there to stay. By now, any immunity that Liquorice would originally have had from her mum's colostrum during the first few days of her life has totally worn off and she at this stage, she really does have very little protection other than her own natural immune system. As you know, babies are normally weaned at 9 and 12 weeks of age, but we're holding off until the Capitals are old enough to be done, then everyone will be done at the same time. But the point I was trying to make is that I'm really pleased that despite having so little protection, Liquorice, just like the Tails of Hans Christian Anderson, are incredibly healthy with not a single problem at all. It's something I have been watching quite closely for little things like signs of runny eyes, or perhaps lethargy, or sneezes etc. But Liquorice is absolutely perfect so let's hope she stays that way for other 3 weeks when she can have her first set of kitten vaccinations.

Ten weeks old today and she is doing my head in! She knows full well that she is not allowed in the 2nd kitten room (not that anyone is in there at the moment) but we are having a bit of a problem with that particular room which is why no one is in there and we have been going in and out there today. Each time we go in and out, Liquorice runs in there and I can't catch her. She is way too fast and then I have to chase her around the room which she thinks is hysterically funny. If she keeps this sort of behaviour up I'll be telling Linz to turn up much earlier than planned to take her off my hands and give me a bit of peace and quiet! She really is going to be a troublesome teenager, I just know it. The thing is though, that you can not stay cross with Liquorice because she has such an appealing face and a glint of mischief, combined with love, in her eyes. So instead of telling her off as I should, I end up giving her a cuddle instead. Is it any wonder that Schimmel kittens are so incredibly naughty? I can't discipline them at all, I don't have it in me to scold the babies which is probably why Liquorice is a law unto herself. On days like today, when I read back over what I have written, and some previous entries, I do ever wonder if Linz reads them and wonders if it's too late to change her mind :)