My Polish friend Kinga has a momma cat named Brownie who had two litters before anyone knew what was going on. This little one came from the latter litter, born July 6, 2009. She had two gray and white spotted siblings, and one that was quasi-Siamese. But of course the calico was the one to come home with me. How could she not? I mean, look at that mug.

Cute, right? There’s more.

She has also been known to make this face. Adorable, right? No? What’s that?  More like blood-sucking vampire -face you say? Okay, I see your point. But it makes me laugh.

Believe it or not, this is her yawn face. I found that I can cause her to make this face by yawning at her a couple of times. She just can’t resist, and does it right back at me.

She’s also a polydactyl cat. A mitten kitten, if you will. She has the normal amount of toes on her hind feet, her front paws have six toes. She has what can pass for an opposable  thumb on each hand. Weird? OK. But I have had a fascination with polydactyl kitties since I first heard of them in the 4th grade. I saw a photograph of one in a book and have since found them immensely interesting. However, this little one is first that I’ve actually seen in real life.

Turns out, she makes a great hat. It was discovered that when very sleepy, she can be put just about anywhere. She will stay wherever you put her as long as she remains comfy and cozy. Apparently my head worked out well for her.

Besides her good looks and hat-like quality, she also has a great personality.

She has a good mix of pouncing crazy kitten energy and cuddly lap cat.

She is cautiously curious. As a pet-owner, I am very happy about this trait.

When riding in the car with me, she’ll climb up on my shoulder as my parrot-cat. Argh.

She occasionally talks to me. When she’s right near me, she uses her inside voice and whisper-meows. When she is trying to locate me, she meows a little louder. And when she thinks she’s all alone in the house, and wants to voice just how sad her pathetic her world has become, she meows in various notes and volumes. When I answer back and say something like, “Hey, you– I’m right here” she prances over to me with these happy little half meows, “Mah. Mah. Mah.” Plus, I’ve already seen her kill a roach. What’s not to love about her?

And yes, in case you’re wondering, I’m still trying to come up with a name for her.

I’m in no big hurry, but some of the names under consideration are: Hazel, Imogen, Foxface, Ginger, Mookie-Moo, Gremlin, Apolonia (Polish, family name), Cornelia (After Cornelia Parker, one of my favorite artists), Datura, Boo, and a few others. Any other suggestions?

Despite what some of my friends think, I will not name her Little Booger.

That is all.

As of press time my apartment does not afford me to keep pets. It saddens me, and so,  when I found these little guys I decided they’d have to do for now. Please meet:

Cyrill Squirrel                                          Rill

Kate Hare                                    Sleepy Pom

These little guys are created and hand-made by Donna Wilson from the UK. She has whole range of little “creatures” as she calls them on her Web site (which is entirely worth checking out, think flash animation — creatures who pop-up and roll-over hand-drawn icons).