Mandarin Orange Morningstar

Welcome the newest Morningstar to the family - Mandarin Orange the kitten!

Now, before you get all high and mighty telling me that this is not the time to add a kitten to the family, allow me to point out that in these 6 months of craziness the only poor choices I've succumbed to are a ridiculous penchant for bike gear and a little ball of fluffy cuteness.  Not bad!

Mandy was rescued by a coworker and his wife - the wife works at an animal shelter and after Mandy's foster mom died they brought Mandy to their house and bottle fed him back to health.  He's now 11 weeks old and as cute and cuddly as can be and remarkably patient with the special brand of suffocating attention lavished by his 3 and 5-year-old mommies.

Both girls are beyond thrilled to have a kitty and everybody's doing a great job being gentle and giving Mandy (some) space.  Even Chorney is adjusting to the new addition and the two are tolerating each other well.

If you're wondering about the name, here's the story:
When we got Chorney, Sasha had only been home for a couple of months and we thought it would be fun to honor her heritage with Chorney's name, so we chose Chornaya, which is Russian for "Blackie".

When we were thinking about a name for Mandy, I thought maybe we'd do the same so I Googled, "Mandarin for orange" and, of course, Google returned lots of citrus hits.  Realizing my mistake, I laughed and thought, "Well, maybe Mandarin Orange wouldn't be a bad name!" and after consulting with the girls (who had lots of opinions) and the boys (who had none), Mandy stuck.

And just in case you think that Mandy isn't a good boy kitty name, I will immediately direct you over to Mandy Patinkin of Princess Bride fame.  If one of the world's greatest fictional swordsmen can be named Mandy, it's more than masculine enough for our cat.

Mandy's first day as a Morningstar was a resounding success and he's now sleeping soundly on my lap as I type.  After dinner the girls decided he was tired and tucked him in for a nap.  They were so proud of themselves that I didn't have the heart to tell them that the towel was for him to sleep on, not under, and he didn't seem to mind the blanket at all.  Thank goodness for patient and forgiving pets!