Izzy asks, "Why is this night different from all other nights?" To her, we say, "This is the night the kittens experience the wider world!"

We spent yesterday kittenproofing the living room. It was a massive project, but it's well worth it! The sunroom we set up for fostering was fine for Shadow and Kismet, but it's too small for six cats. They're playing on top of each other and it's hard to walk around to take care of them because there's too much furry body on the floor. 

Of course, the kittens have been leaving the room in singles or pairs for the past week as we've been socializing them. We've found that when they're tired, they really like hanging out in our shirts and being skin-to-fur in a warm place. This works better for my partner's shirts than for mine because I'm a t-shirt girl and she wears proper shirts with better openings. I tend to do more "kitten in lap," which they really do best when they're sleepy. Otherwise you get climbing kittens, which can also be interesting. The following picture is Ira deciding he doesn't actually care what's outside that window and wondering how he gets down from the back of my chair. (My hands, of course!)

Developmentally, weaning is starting. They've all eaten some food, though they're still mainly nursing. Inara and Izzy have taken to food the most. Everyone's using the litter box, though there still have been a few accidents in the spot where they initially went before we had the litter box up. This makes sense because the area smells like urine to their powerful noses if it doesn't smell to us, but we bought a cleaner that should clear that up. This litter is teaching us a lot about fostering and the things you need to have on hand when you're raising tiny kittens! The kittens are also developing their own personalities, but that will be a different post because my partner is so much better at describing them than I am and she is currently busy.

The kittens turned five weeks old a few hours ago. Here's what we can expect in the next week:

• More weaning!
• More socializing!
• Improved grooming!
• Even more playing!