Rolo!

This weekend we got a new addition to our family! Currently, this new addition is attacking the pocket of my trousers with little teeth. The new member of our family is Rolo, a tiny tortoiseshell kitten. Rolo is the smallest kitten you have every seen, a tiny scrap of catness, but he certainly has a big character. I say ‘he’ though currently we are not sure whether ‘he’ is a boy or a girl. I personally am convinced he is a boy due to his cheekiness and adventurous spirit coupled with an incredibly innocent face! He is also an attention seeker-whenever we leave him he will miaow a great deal, will try to follow us around the house and has got lost and overwhelmed many a time. (Our house is rather large for a small creature so we have to listen out for the panicked noises to find where he is. He is always very happy to be reunited with us!)

On the first day that we had Rolo he was mewing incessantly, so much so that when my parents phoned they heard the noises in the background and asked if we had an aviary in our house! I was rather worried about how he would get on, having been separated from his mother and being so little. However, he is a lot quieter now and seems to have found his feet (literally) in his new world. In the evenings he scampers around getting into trouble and places he shouldn’t be! Fortunately, he still gives us a few mews now and then so we can have an idea of his whereabouts!

You may think I am rather excited over this little pet but this is the first living thing that Matt and I have looked after together and, of course, his presence provides a great deal of entertainment during dull evenings in Mbeya! It struck me when we got Rolo how there must be similarities to having a baby for the first time! Without a doubt I am aware that babies are not furry and do not come already walking. However, you do have to give them constant attention, help them to eat, worry about them when you can’t see them, try to understand what their cries mean…etc! Anyway, having responsibility for a tiny creature is a good training ground for a baby one day and in the mean time I’m sure we’ll have lots of fun and laughs with Rolo!