Eleven is a full feline teenager now and just as rambunctious as the human kind. We play chase and he scampers to the nearest hiding spot. I hide behind a wall and he comes bounding after me. He jumps in one leap onto the kitchen counter, onto my desk and computer to shut down my knowledge acquisition and writing to stake his claim to me, his Chosen One. Whenever I greet him in the morning he offers his snout for a kiss, which I given him multiple times a day. When I so much as leave to take out the garbage or make a supplies run he stares at me reproachfully from the bedroom door. He’s not a passive putty-tat but an assertive male teenager feeling his power. 

I will, as my daughter-in-law’s husband foretold, miss his baby stage but he is so fun and frisky now. I know I will miss these days also when he turns into an inert adult mass. It’s a poignant, proud time to see my little guy so content and happy just with me.