House Chores

I told Norma it’s time we start divvying up chores in the house. She thought that was hilarious.
 

Happy Holidays

 

Comfortable Kenta

Norma is still leery of her younger brother. The feeling isn’t mutual.
 

Strength in Numbers

Waiting for the next meal which is hours away.
 

Theo Memorial

I haven’t put away Theo’s favorite bed. Alias and Norma have never tried napping in it. Years ago, a former work colleague gave me a toy cat that breathes and purrs. I’ve kept it in my office(s) since. Visitors often ask, “Is that a real cat?” Last week we moved office locations and I brought the toy cat home. He now formalizes our Theo memorial. Although every time I walk up stairs, particularly in the dark, I have to look twice not to think Theo is sleeping in his bed again.
 

Alias’ Smile

He’s got the cutest lil overbite.
 

Finding Comfort

Kenta definitely is finding his place in our house. He’s playing more and more with the bevy of toys we’ve accumulated over the years. He loves to chase after Norma and Alias when they get in their full speed races up and downstairs. I came home this week to see this sight- Kenta and Alias snuggling together really for the first time. I had some doubts bringing in another cat for a number of reasons. I have no doubt now I did the absolute right thing. 
 

Bah Humbug

Alias has heard other homes in the area have real trees inside during this time of year. He’s wondering why we don’t have a real tree he can sit on top of. I have yet to tell him the fat guy with presents likely won’t be making an appearance in our house either.
 

Legacy

Kenta’s favorite toy by far is a swat at a mouse in a circle toy my late Mom and Dad bought for my first cat Mr. Max. It was Max’s favorite toy too. How cool is that?
 

A Throne

Norma and Alias are jealous of my fancy litter box.
 

Furminator

Kenta had his first furminator session, which he loved. Diego-San used to demand to be furminated before he let me go to bed. But I put the furminator away after Diego-San died and I couldn’t locate it again so I ordered another. Norma and Alias are not too fond of being combed but they wondered why their new brother was getting all this special attention.

Family Ties 3

I love the way Kenta is learning from Norma and Alias. When meal time comes, Alias races down the hallway with the speed of a linebacker. There’s a cat tree with two scratching post legs that he attacks with so much aggression that one of the two legs has been shredded, less than a year since I bought the tree. Kenta chases after Alias and scratches the other scratching post leg.

Norma is the first cat I’ve lived with that does the knock things off tables and shelves and desks onto the floor. So to deter unwanted knock offs, I now place a whole bunch of cat toys on her favorite perching spot, a bedroom cat tree. Just recently, Kenta has followed Norma’s lead in making sure there are no cat toys left on the cat tree. Norma and Alias are still treating Kenta similar to how they treated Theo in the beginning. Somewhat wary but curious to indulge non-aggressive attempts at getting to know each other. 
 

Family Ties 2

Alias, Norma, and I truly lucked out that we found Kenta (or maybe he found us). He’s such a mellow fellow, loves to cuddle. He watches both of his siblings closely and loves when they pay any attention to him.
 

Family Ties

Kenta is working hard to get his siblings to like him. I think Alias is starting to warm up to his younger brother.
 

Alias’ Advice

It’s always a good day to roll up in a ball.
 

The Sounds of Meows

Norma has a very high pitched meow, almost a squeal. Alias’ meow is much more gutteral like it’s coming from his belly. Kenta has a high pitched like Norma’s only half the volume. The first time I heard it, I thought it was Norma and was worried that something was wrong since it sounded so timid. 

Comfort

It melts my heart to see Kenta learning to play with Norma and Alias. He’s tried to join in on Norma’s flinging of cat toys around but she’s let him know that play is a solo activity. When Alias chases Norma down the hall, Kenta is chasing along too. He played with the mechanical mouse in a circle toy for quite a while. It’s good to see him feeling more and more comfortable in the strange surroundings.
 

Routines

Kenta is learning our routines. I think he’s going to like the weekend routine even better.
 

Changes

It’s been a big week of adjustment for these two. They’ve both done really well. Slowly but surely, we all are figuring things out.
 

Behind the Name

Da Kid is a true sweetheart…

So how did I land on Kenta Grant Maeda? He was originally named Cary Grant by the rescue (obviously for his handsome suaveness). I thought about naming him Humphrey Bogart after my favorite actor from that era. I could call him Sir Humphrey or Bogie or Bogart all great names. I originally thought about naming Alias ‘Kenta’ because how cool has it been to have a Minnesota Twin share my surname? Mom would have been amazed. But ultimately Alias was named after a Bob Dylan movie character “what’s your name?”  “Alias anything you want…” 

I decided on Kenta Grant Maeda because Kenta sounds more like Cary than Humphrey or Bogie, and I thought he might respond to that. And he did come over when I called his name out. But also to honor our ex-Twin, and keeping Grant to honor his original name and also one of my heroes, Bud Grant (who I learned everything I know about leadership from) and also I can call him KG (after Kevin Garnett) or KG’s nickname, ‘da kid’ which honors what I called Diego-San, Thompson and Theo, ‘da Boyz’ for all those years. Kenta suits him well.