kittens in the house!

i'd forgotten how one tiny kitten can centralize the entire energy and focus of a household onto its kitten antics. and two kittens? if i didn't lock 'em up every so often neither i nor the dogs would do anything but follow them around. neil is ridiculously conscientious of monitoring both kittens any time they are out of their kitten pen. he puts on his worried face and follows them around, making sure they are okay after exploring, swatting him in the face, stealing his food, or "treeing" hobbes on the counter. it's an incredible change to see in neil - now that he has a real job to do, he is so much more confident in his good-dogness. i've never seen him like this before. he is so much more secure and comfortable. makes me wonder if tank at paws (who reminds me so much of the neily boy) needs some kittens of his own to follow around. i let the kittens run amuck for about an hour, and now they and the dogs are sprawled out all over the place, exhausted. it's hard work laughing that much, after all.
hobbes despises the kittens. especially after they treed him. he has abandoned me for the day, and i expect something along the lines of floor poop later. balloon became insecure and started crying as soon as he realized the kittens were here. he's been clingy and whiney... shadow is hiding, and twilight took the opportunity to monopolize my bed for her own uses.
on a more teddy-ish note: i finally made the last payment for teddy's leg surgeries. i set it up to auto pay yesterday. within probable minutes of the electronic transfer, i noticed that teddy is holding his head sideways and flattening out one ear. he cried when i touched it. on closer inspection, i found out that he has an ear hematoma (blood pocket from some busted veins, often caused by excessive scratching, which teddy does due to allergies, despite twice daily medication). the ear, of course, requires a surgical procedure to repair. i love teddy, but sometimes... oh it's a good thing he's cute!