Brain the size of a walnut. A small walnut.

My kitten lately conquered the highest height in my condo -- the top of the entertainment center. I've seen her get up there -- she jumps to the shelf, then to the top of the tv, then one last leap to the tippy top of the whole unit.

And it isn't easy. I saw her miss the top of the tv once (scratched the side of the tv -- I was oddly not pissed off about this). She's a good jumper, but not a terrific one. (She had a broken leg when I first got her, and although it has healed, I think there's a little residual pain on the bigger jumps.)

I don't allow her in my bedroom when I'm not here. Some people might think I'm being overprotective, but my bedroom is covered with kitty hazards. About a month ago, she figured she could jump from the dresser to the top of the chest of drawers. Problem is, she can't jump back down. There's a standing lamp between the two pieces of furniture, and she can clear it going up, but not going down. I took a little stool from the bathroom and put it in front of the chest of drawers so she could jump down to it, as a small step on the way to the ground. She can do that. Barely. I now keep the stool in front of the chest of drawers for her.

Just now, she went the OTHER way from the dresser -- onto the top of a corner curio cabinet. (Ironically, I got the corner curio cabinet so I'd have a place to keep my breakables where she couldn't get to them.) Jas sat on the dresser and meowed pitifully for awhile, then leapt to the very top of the curio.

I was impressed. It's a much bigger height differential than from the shelf to the top of the TV, and I'd seen her miss that one.

I also wondered how the heck she was gonna get down. I brought the little stool over, but top of curio to stool is a VERY long jump. I stood on the stool and offered to help her down, but she swatted me away.

She sat on top of the curio enjoying the view when I began this entry.

Partway through, she realized she wanted down. I turned around just in time to see her aim for the dresser, miss, bounce off it, ricochet against the stool, and ...

I looked for a pile of hurt and confused kitten on the floor, but she was nowhere to be found. She'd dived under the bed to get herself together. I peeked under the bed and called softly to her, and she charged me, daring me to give her "aw poor kitty" on pain on teeth.

Now she's just sitting calmly on the corner of the dresser. Maybe she CAN b