New Kitty, Elliot - OUT FROM UNDER THE BED & PLAYING!, originally uploaded by estacey.

and this was over the course of 10 hours or so. :)

he has been named elliot. i figured it was about time to show some respec' to the fine people at law & order. after all, they have given me a good six years of obsessive television entertainment. so new mr. kitten has been named after the fine detective elliot stabler of law & order: special victims unit. funny, considering i have often thought of naming my kitten olivia (his partner, olivia benson), but i'm not sure if i'm ready to have cats with, you know, "cleverly" connected names. olivia is a good name, though, isn't it?

anyway, back to elliot - he actually seems to like being held sometimes. i got purrs already! sometimes you can tell he's just waiting for you to let up a little so he can dart, but other times i don't even have to hold him. he just sits there and blinks while i rub his cute little head and big satellite ears. his little teeth stick out of his mouth! he's a total batcat.

so yeah, last night i was at the sink and i saw a black moving figure out of the corner of my eye. it was elliot! coming out to sniff the big plant! the kitten hissed him back under the bed, so i figured that was the last of the activity for the night but was so, so proud.

a bit later, i was playing with a new toy and the kitten. left it on the ground when we were done. from the next room, i heard bells. went to look - elliot was out and playing! so he had a grand old time last night, whomping mousies and biting string. he's not scared of the kitten, either. it takes a good five hisses before he runs away. go, elliot! :)

he still doesn't like it when i catch him and he still spends 99% of his time in hiding, but these were BIG, HUGE STEPS.

anyway, i think the key to all this was loving and petting and reassurance. also, i gave him tuna two nights in a row. :)