4:28 PM EST

I hate locking Jelly-Belly up. I'm basically starving him until he submits to eating food out of a bowl. I don't cage him at night because it's too long to go without food and I have to draw the line at getting up in the middle of the night to feed him.

Today I had Jelly locked up for about 6 hours, then freed him from captivity so he could play with his siblings and stretch his little legs. While he was out, I weighed him. There is no way his weight went up from 1.5 to 2.25lbs in TWO days. I must have done something wrong. I know I wasn't feeding him enough...so that makes me wonder what is going on. I really don't think he's eating other than midnight snack from Mom or a dribbled mess of KMR from me.

The single syringe I have is getting to a point where it jams while I'm trying to SLOWLY release the KMR into Jelly's mouth. Before I can move it out of the way, it unloads all over me and Jelly's chest. I think that out of the 4-syringe goal I had, Jelly and I wore one and he might have gotten bits of the remaining three.

This afternoon, a breakthrough. Jelly mid-play, hopped over to the water bowl and began to lap water out of it! Finally, a sign of improvement! Here is the moment, captured for all to see

Also, I another victory! I've noticed that Mama feed the kittens around 4pm every day. Today I mixed up Jelly's KMR before that and brought it to him. As I walked into the room, there I see all the kittens lined up at Mama's lunch bar! I had to stop it. I'm sorry, but I had to. I walked over to Mama and she hissed. What was interesting was the sight of Jelly. He was trying to get at Mama, but unable. His brother and sister blocked the way and I don't think Mama was helping, either. I was able to coax Jelly away, to save my hand from getting chomped on by Mama. He seemed to understand he needed to come to me for food and was willing to sit on my knee and enjoy his lunch both in his mouth and all over the place! Darn syringe!

Within a few moments they were all napping. Sadly, Jelly took a place by himself to nap, while his sibling snuggled up to Mama. I wonder if I'll ever stop feeling bad about this?

Tomorrow is Mama's last full day. I wish her safe journeys and a happy future. I promise I'll do my best to take care of her babies until they find a new home. Jelly! Eat something!