Kitten duties

I need to get this post written while my charge is napping. Yes, I’m on kitten duties which is a not too strenuous task that involves keeping an eight week old bundle of tortoiseshell energy amused during her waking hours. We have also shut her in our daughter’s room as there is another CAT in the house who is aware that SOMETHING IS GOING ON, that she probably doesn’t approve of. Something has come into her kingdom and she is not sure how to react. In the research I’ve been able to do so far, I’ve found out that they should be introduced gently to each other through a closed door, towards the end of a two week period. Any further tips would be gratefully received.

So this little furball has had no trouble being separated from her sister and brothers, eats food like it’s going out of fashion and of course loves to play. Little soccer balls of paper, twisty bits of paper attached to string, pen lids, bottle tops and a feather lie scattered around the room. She loves them all and usually entertains herself as long as someone is in the room.

Occasionally the action stops and you look down into this irresistible little face, wondering what the next play item is that you’re going to toss her way.

Fortunately little kittens need to nap long and fairly often, so the work is not taxing and I can easily fulfil every other thing I need to do on a daily basis and have the added delight of a very small and amusing companion.

Tomorrow I’m going to look for some more natural toys, like gum nuts, seedpods and maybe some dried leaves on my walk. I went into the local supermarket and nearly died at the price of cat toys that I don’t know if she’ll even appreciate.

So many ways to write a curly K!

‘K’ is a very easy letter to sound out and doesn’t usually cause confusion with whether it’s a ‘c’ hard sound or a ‘k’. There are almost no 3 letter words starting with ‘k’ introduced in kindergarten, except perhaps ‘kit’. It’s sometimes called the ‘kicking k’ to distinguish it from its little cousin as it supposedly looks a bit like someone kicking an object.

It does look very decorative and attractive when written as a loopy curly capital letter, so I had a bit of fun experimenting. Normally students don’t have any problem writing the letter. They just some practice with making the two small sticks diagonal to each other. Since I started writing this, part of the phonics alphabet, ‘the king kicked a kettle, k, k, k’ has been running through my head, no wonder the kids never forget that line (even if they don’t really know what a king is!)