Growing Like a Weed

So I just noticed the other day that Virgil is getting bigger. I mean, I knew he would get bigger I just didn't realize how fast it would be. He is taller and longer, and his tail has gotten a lot longer too. There were places I thought he was too little to go before, because I was afraid he would get hurt (best example is tryin to get from the end of the mattress to the bench in front of the bed by way of going over the footboard - he could barely fit from the mattress to the footboard before and now he can reach from one to the other with no problem). Now he is going almost everywhere. We try to keep him from going upstairs without one of us but he has figured out how to get past the cardboard gate we set up. Even his big brothers and sister haven't figured that out yet. Of course they can get up and down by climbing from the back of the stairs if then need to - he is still to small for that! He is also eating with the other cats now - I have a picture of the four of them eating that I will post later. Of course he still gets that extra meal in since he eats three times a day and the others eat only twice a day, but it works out ok. We are hoping to do something to kitten-proof the railing so that he can start wandering around more upstairs on his own - the main reason he is kept downstairs is I don't want him to jump or fall, especially with a big cat chasing him.

Last night he was downstairs while I was upstairs getting ready for bed and all of a sudden I look up and there he is - he totally snuck up without any warning. It was funny but of course I don't want him in danger and the stairs are high so I was all "you should be downstairs waiting for us" but he just looked at me like "I have no idea what you are saying". He is getting along ok with the boy cats, they still make him a bit nervous, but Lola is still not too thrilled he is there, although she will sit kind of near him. But yesterday she was sleeping on her cat bed, which rests on the back of the couch (that purple pillow in the pictures below) and he jumped up there and when she yowelled at him he tried to bop her with his paw. She didn't like that so she batted at him and tried to nip at his head - luckily he ducked and she wasn't trying real hard. Mostly I think she was just trying to get him to go away. And yet a while later he went up there again - this time I grabbed him before it got out of hand. He seems least concerned about her even though she is most annoyed by him. I think he knows she is a girl and the others are boys and that is why he is like that. You'd think he would figure out that he shouldn't get too close because when he does she yells but he just keeps trying it. Just like a pesky little brother would do.