Ernie the wild boy

The little piece of kitten fuzz seen last autumn in my blog has grown into a long, lean kitty. We figure that he's a teen in cat years. He doesn't roll his eyes or say things like "duh", (or at least we haven't seen him do these things...)but he is finding ways to show his age. While his cat brothers Sam and Ollie and sister Annie still like to play and wrestle with him, he has to push the envelope past when the other cat has had enough. It's not uncommon for Sam to run from the room with Ernie in hot pursuit, or to hear Annie growl with increasing volume when Ernie doesn't take her more subtle hints that he should GO AWAY. But just like any kid who is growing up, Ernie still has a little boy inside who wants his human Dad and Mom to pet and cuddle him and let him sleep on our laps. He spends every night lying all stretched out by our legs and doesn't seem to even notice when we shift position- he's like a rag doll, plopping wherever he ends up. Around 4:30 every morning he wakes up and makes an attempt to be petted, sticking his head under my hand and biting my fingers if he gets no response. Usually I can bury my hands in the blankets and he'll give up after a few minutes, going back to lie down at our feet, no doubt rolling his eyes and mumbling some teenage comments under his breath.