Jericho's 1st Birthday

This post is dedicated to my little fur ball, Jericho Groves, in honor of his first birthday! I realize that I talk about him just as much as other mom's talk about their real babies, and I'm okay with that. He will always be my first baby. 

Jericho Groves

Birthday - May 11, 2017.

Age – One year old! How is my baby one already?

Weight – That's a great question! My guess is he weighs 15(ish) pounds, but it's only a guess as he doesn't hold still when I try to weigh him on our tiny scale we use for selling things on eBay. He has grown so much since we got him at 5 pounds.

Length - He is so long! Approximately 30 inches all sprawled out.

Characteristics - Friendly, inquisitive about smells and different foods, extremely playful, and loving. He has such a fun personality.

Loves – Playing with toys in the bathtub and experimenting with the water on his own terms. He loves playing with his balls that he can easily pick up with his mouth. His favorite toys are those that aren't intended to be toys - hair ties, cardboard boxes, bags, etc. Another favorite game we play is wiggling our fingers and toes under a blanket and letting him attack us. By far the game he loves most is hide, seek, and scare. I will hide around the corner or behind the couch, while occasionally popping up so he can see me. He slowly creeps towards me and then one of us will pounce and scare the other. More often than not, he scares me, but I've gotten him to jump a few times. Lastly, he absolutely loves food of any kind!

Hates – The smell of toothpaste; having his teeth brushed; baths (we've never successfully given him a bath. Thank goodness he is a good groomer); getting his nails clipped; and having his bum wiped – yes, we sometimes have to wipe his bum as he doesn't always get all the poop off. Great practice for real babies, right?

Sleeping through the night? No, and I'm not sure he ever will. He does pretty good for the first 5-6 hours but always wakes up around 3-5 am wanting food. He has gotten into the habit of waking me up and then playfully biting my arm until I pay attention to him. He's too cute to get mad at though. Recently, we started locking him in his bathroom after he first wakes up till I get up to feed him. It has really helped with him not keeping us awake.

Eating – He is a garbage disposal in animal form; his stomach is a bottomless pit!

Meowing? - Oddly enough, he has only meowed a handful of times. He prefers to chirp, especially when he wants food. He also makes his "hunting" sound when he sees birds and squirrels outside.

Best memory - It isn't just one specific memory, but we have the best time together when we are chasing each other around the house. I also have very good memories of him cuddling and falling asleep in my lap. He doesn't do that anymore. ;)

Worst memory - Just the other day, Jericho got a splinter on some plywood. He flipped out and cowered down behind the door, freaking out whenever we would try and comfort him. We realized that by us picking him up it probably put pressure on his sore spot. It did eventually come out, but it made me so sad that my baby got hurt and was afraid of letting us touch him.

Where he came from – We adopted him, in September 2017, from the Oregon Humane Society when he was 4 months old. The previous owners didn't know their cat was pregnant and couldn't take care of all the baby kittens. He was the first kitten Colton saw and we knew we had to take him home with us.

Places visited – Portland, OR (obviously), Cannon Beach, OR (March 2018), Salt Lake City, UT (Dec 2017), and Ephraim, UT (Dec 2017).

How has he changed this past year – He isn't as cuddly as he was when we first adopted him and he doesn't play with certain toys anymore.

I love you Jericho! Always have and I always will.