Moosie, AKA The Spotted Wonder

5 AM Feedings
I'm not one of those people who bounce out of bed the minute the alarm goes off. I'm more the type that hits the 10 minute more button a few times...like maybe 20. Everybody's body has their own rhythm, and mine seems to think I should be asleep between 5 AM and noon. I can tango up to 3 AM, after that I want to be tucked up in bed. Babies, however, have their own rhythms, and could care less about anyone else's.

After I managed to unwrap myself from husband and bedclothes, I stumbled towards the bathroom. At first I thought the carpet was moving. But no, we don't have any carpet, especially in the bathroom. As my eyes finally started communicating with my brain, I realized the floor of our tiny bathroom was covered in cats. They were all clustered around the floor heating vent like it was a fireplace. Four regular to large longhaired cats look like they take up a lot of room! Then Moosie the Spotted Wonder, thundered down the hall to say hello. Forty plus pounds of barreling cat, yeeps! I quickly step into the one clear spot on the bathroom floor, so he has to turn a corner and lose momentum. The little cats scatter to safer perches, all but Ariel and Princess, who have the prime snoozing spots and are not about to give them up just because Moosie wants to cram into the bathroom too.

I am, by now, awake, just out of self-preservation. Moosie does his "I'm so happy to see you, you've been gone so long (2 hrs) dance. After a hug, he settles in beside the girls and begins to wash Ariel. Moosie thinks his role in life is to take care of me and "his" kittens. He clearly thinks they are still kittens, although he has stopped trying to pick them up and carry them. Fifteen pound Morpheus made it quite clear he could navigate on his own, thank you very much! Unless, of course, he can con a human into toting him around. Princess, however, was not bottle fed, and still believes Moosie is mommy. She pushed between Ariel and the Moose and he transferred his washing to her. She had the funniest look on her face, like "I have all Mommy's attention now, hee hee!"

I stumble into the kitchen to warm up the baby bottle. We are still living out of ice chests because the fridge doesn't work. At this time in the morning, that is fine with me, the fridge light would hurt my eyes, and I am trying to stay asleep as much as I can and still function.

Rollo is awake and waiting. Yesterday he sucked down his bottle in record time, today he is used to it, and takes his time. He grabs my finger and I wonder all over again at how tiny his little hands are. His tail, which was like a bit of string when he first came, is now fluffed out. The rings on it make it look like it's segmented. His tiny face is intent on mine. I must look huge to him, but since he has never known his lemur mom, he accepts us humans as normal. So long as he is fed and loved, he is happy.

Emily stays sound asleep, but kinkababy wakes up and calls to me. Not that long ago he was the one keeping me up nights. Pudge the sugarglider is on her exercise wheel, but she stops to see if I might have a pumpkin seed for her. The crickets in the gecko cage are chirping their little hearts out. But I can hear my bed calling me. It's my boyfriend's late day at work, so he's still sleeping. While I hate his being out so late, I do love being able to crawl back into bed and snuggle up to him. Ah, for two and a half more hours of sleep!

Later, with both of us up, Rollo is looking all around the room. I don't know how focused those golden eyes of his are, but he can see my boyfriend from across the room. K waves and calls to him, and he responds with a chirp. He's changing so fast, every day he discovers so many new things he can do. Today for the first time, he realized that there was clear glass between us when he is in the incubator. He tried to come to me, but the glass stopped him. He spent a few minutes putting his hands on the glass, then went back to snuggle with his toy.