As mentioned previously, in 2020 we took in yet another cat into our rescue. We found out shortly after that she was pregnant.
Now - we've taken in so many cats over the years, but we'd never had one actively pregnant so not only was this new to us, it also means we have an accurate birth date for exactly one of the cats.
Gargoyle decided she felt safe enough with both of us to try to give birth ON our laps. I'll spare you the details but it probably wasn't conducive to the birthing process so eventually she settled on the floor and finished the job. We're not sure if it was her being malnourished or what, but there weren't any stillborn kittens, no birth defects - there was just one kitten in there. Just this little guy.
The creature Gargoyle birthed was named simultaneously 'Smokescreen' by the kids, and 'Chip' by his godmother (who, in a very 'what the fuck is my life' moment, is the former mayor of a major US city that we met entirely through early twitter and has since become an extended part of our family purely because of cats.)
Man this little fucker grew SO fast.
and it turned out, what Gargoyle had created was not a son - but almost a perfect genetic clone of herself.
Only recently has he stopped immediately resembling his mother because of his size. As of this year he dwarfs nearly every cat in our rescue by a LONG shot.
He's goofy and affectionate when he wants to be, but he's also incredibly temperamental.
He's overly affectionate in rooms that have sinks.
We attribute this to him being born in a bathroom, otherwise it kind of makes no sense. Purrs and nuzzles he'll give in the bathroom, but if you cross the threshold you'll get a smack and a growl if you approach.
He also has an innate hatred of doors and things that block his path. I attribute this to when he was almost born twice (once on each of our laps) but..well..sucked back in before the final push, AND how he needed to be isolated from some of the other at-risk cats before he'd gotten his shots / fixed etc.
As a kitten he made it his mission to SCREAM HIS ASS OFF at our bedroom door and keep everyone awake. The alternative was to take him into another room, kick the at-risk cats out and let him sleep on my lap. Weirdly, this is how I learned Blender. I couldn't sleep because of him but he'd sleep on my lap if I was in the other room and upright, so I stayed up all night doing blender tutorials and went from there.
Huge fan of being on multiple surfaces at once. If his body can be both on the floor and on a rug or in two rooms at once across a door frame, god he's so happy.
Anyway that's it. Happy birthday to 'The boy'.