Meet Niko

I now have four babies. Maddie (who's technically my parents' dog), Bailey (my favorite-ist chocolate lab mix in the entire world), Jasper (my littlest guy the hamster) and now...Niko, the kitten. He's a 9-week-old cat that Andrew adopted yesterday from the Kansas Humane Society. He is adorable. One of my co-workers fostered him for about a month and knew that Andrew had a black cat named Simon who died a couple of years ago and thought he might be ready for a new love. Well, he wasn't. But, I can be pretty persuasive when I have to be. Okay, and so can a cute, little, black kitty who purrs constantly and immediately snuggles up to you the first time he meets you. Andrew's face lit up when he met him on Friday. He took a night to think about it, and we picked Niko up on Saturday. Granted, his name was Aki at that time. Andrew was going to keep his name, but then spontaneously changed it to Niko after we called him Aki for several hours. Oh well, he's young and will learn his new name.

He was a bit timid at first and hid under the bed for awhile, but he soon started making himself at home.

He really likes his kitty castle. We placed it by the window and he already enjoys sitting there and looking out the window.

As an owner of dogs all my life and never a cat, I was very impressed with how it seems cats are automatically litterbox-trained from the start. Very nice! Every time Niko uses his he darts out as fast as he can once he's done covering up his business. I don't blame him: it's a pretty stinky business.

Already playing video games with dad. Oh what a pair they will be.