You've come a long way, baby!

Last night Grey treated me to another session of his new pass time... headbutting me from behind. And, for the first time since he started doing this, I had a camera within reach and he decided and not quit as soon as I reached for the flashy box. :-)

Things are quite squished here at the casa because of the construction. There's a table directly behind my computer chair. Grey plants his front paws on the back of the chair, his back paws are on the table and he butts and butts and butts and butts my head with his. One day I let him go at it without trying to pet back and he kept it up for about a minute.

That doesn't sound like a long time, but he's one big cat and puts some ummph into those butts! Unfortunately, the sound of the flashy box cranking up has inevitably brought the sessions to an immediate halt. Not last night! I was able to get off 4 blind shots before he stopped... two of which sorta-kinda-mostly turned out!

I thought today about how far Grey has come during his time here. Sharon did a great job "re-socializing" him before he came to us (we think he once had people but had been out for quite a while when Sharon found him). He's always been a nice guy and gets along well with almost all the kittehs (his lamentable Bitty obsession notwithstanding ... and I truly believe it is romantic in nature). He let me pet him from the beginning. But I realized last night that, somewhere along the line, he's really loosened up and become an honest to goodness house cat.

It happened so gradually, I guess I didn't make a note of all the milestones. The first was when he started regularly asking for love, instead of just allowing it - that was pretty early on - I think when he started getting comfortable here - he was already doing it when he was with Sharon.

I remember feeling really honored when he'd roll over and give me belly just because I snaked my hand under him to give a little rub. A few months ago, he relaxed enough to let me sorggle his belly, pretty much at will, when he's on the bed - instead of just tolerating it a couple of seconds and then getting up and moving off a step or two. And I'm not sure exactly when he started letting me pick him up (not his favorite thing), turn him on his back (really not his favorite thing) and bury my face in his belly for a quick snorggle (he does reassert his dignity after indulging me for a moment or two... actually, I consider even allowing the snorggle, given how much he dislikes that position, a pretty big indulgence).

But coming up and doing these head butts has just felt extremely special. It's like he's giving affection in a way that asks for nothing in return.

Yep, you've come a long way, handsome!