Both Fayne and Corliss went swimming again this morning. Usually one experience is all it takes to teach the kittens to be careful while perching on the side of the bathtub. But this litter seems to be endlessly fascinated with the tub and the water in it. This might be in part due to the new, fun game they learned from Great Grandma Shira.
Shira has episodes of craziness that cause us to remark that Psycho Shira is back. She’ll chase through the house like all the demons of Hades are on her heels. She’ll attack teasers and toys unexpectedly, then dash off. She crouch down and lash her tail, then take off after someone — or after nothing at all. It’s entertaining, to say the least.
One of the games she plays most often when she’s Psycho Shira is “killer in the bathtub”. She dashes into the bathroom and jumps into the tub. She crouches down, tail lashing and eyes darting wildly from place to place. Heaven help the other cats if any of them happen to go near the tub! If I’m around and have a toy handy, I’ll toss it in the tub with her and she’ll go nuts “killing” it. Because it’s so fun to watch her, I try to keep a ball in the bathroom just for that very purpose.
The latest victim of Psycho Shira’s bathtub killing is a little ball covered with a pink glittery and shiny fabric. It rattles, so it makes noise as it rolls and is tossed around. The kittens, drawn by the noise, have tried to join the game, but well… getting in the way of Psycho Shira is a guarantee of being swatted — or worse. So they’ve learned to wait until she leaves, then they jump in the tub and play their own version of killer in the bathtub. I’m sure that’s a contributor to their fascination.
But they also love being wherever I am and I like baths rather than showers. So ever since they were big enough to venture into the bathroom on their own, they’ve come in and sat by the tub watching me. Once they could get on the side of tub, the swimming lessons began. 
Besides bathtubs, Seely has become enamoured with getting on things, exhibiting the typical Norwegian Forest Cat desire to be UP. And once he or she gets there, he/she will be looking for a higher spot to explore. Seely conquered the kitchen island last week, climbing up there via the wine rack. (aka kitty jungle gym.) But the island being, well, an island, he couldn’t get anywhere from there. This week he has figured out how to get on the dining room table because he can now jump up to the chairs. And just last night he discovered he can jump up on the bar stools at the kitchen counter and now can get to the entire run of counter top. It was a sad day for me. More cats to chase off the counter when I’m trying to cook. So far Seely is the only one to do it, but once one of them learns something like that, the others aren’t far behind.