They grow up so fast

Whenever you adopt a new kitten or puppy or baby pet of any species, make sure you have a camera, and take piles of photos. Because soon it'll be hard to remember what they were like as youngsters. They grow up so fast, you know.

I'm noticing this phenomenon with our dogs, especially.

When I started this blog two years ago, Phoebe was a year old. Her coat was just losing its fluffiness and her profile was starting to take on the aquiline curve of the adult dachshund. Merrick was a bear-cat, massive, soft and agile. We hadn't yet adopted Connor - he came a couple of months later.

They've all changed, but it's with Connor where we see the most dramatic difference. The scruffy, fearful tadpole who goggled at us on his first night at home has become a scruffy, bolshy bullet of muscle and energy. He once barked for a solid hour at a house visitor, and would get agitated if he saw a person 100 metres away when we were out on a walk. Now, people don't bother him; he loves to check them out and gain a taste of them, but there's never a frightened bark.

He raises his head whenever there's a dog sound on TV, and hurtles outside to confront the ghostly foes that he imagines he hears. Phoebe trails him, shrieking. But within seconds both are back, to resume the important business of chewing on toys or sleeping.

So they're still bold and sometimes reckless, but that's balanced by the lessons of life experience: stay close to your dads, return when one of them whistles, be cautious but not craven around big dogs, keep a swiping distance away from Merrick. One of Phoebe's life lessons seems to be to trust people with grey hair - if she sees a head of white or grey hair, she runs up to them, confident that they'll smile and make a fuss of her. I think she likes the calmness of older people and their readiness to take their time with her. But she also loves groups of young women, who can be relied to coo over her.

Phoebe is now 3, and Connor 2-and-a-half. They've graduated from the total foolishness of puppyhood but still are not exactly stately presences. We can look forward to the long years of mature wisdom ahead (he blogged, hopefully).

Merrick's change is different. He's gone from being a cat in the ripe prime of his life into a slower, thinner, more prudent version of himself.

With all of them, I'm glad to have taken a lot of photos and a few video clips. Looking back at the pictures I took in their younger days, I realise how easy it is to forget how small the pups once were, how much their faces and bodies have streamlined with time. Yet I can still recognise them and see the Phoebeness or Connorness in them. And I hope my photos of Merrick will help me recall his purr and what his thick coat felt like, in the inevitable future when I'm no longer able to feel it.

Taco and Feeny as baby kittens « Daily Kitten Chat Forum

Awwwww, I never saw Feeny as a baby kitten before! He was adorable--as he still is, of course, and as Taco was/is.

My favorite Taco picture was the one in which he and Feeny are sitting on a counter, and Taco has a cardboard biscuit dough wrapper on his head. Feeny has a disgruntled look on his face. My favorite version has a caption that says, "I can't take him anywhere."

Ack!!! I was caught offguard by all the cuteness. Some of those kitten pics I've never seen before. It sure brings back memories of all the struggles you had to go thru to get little Taco healthy. Feeny has definately grown up. Their baby pics are so adorable. And I love the look on Feeny's face like.....could you do something about this thing mom. He's really annoying me!!

*THUD* Oops - where was my COA??? Thanks for the kitten pictures of both boys, Gini! I hadn't seen any of Feeney either. Such sweet babies!

But - OH - the full sequence of the biscuit head photos is hilarious!!! The things Feeney has to put up with! ;-) But he certainly gets up to his own tricks too - the little lingerie bandit!

Please give both boys head skritches from me and my boys!

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