cat observations

This is my first time living exclusively with cats, and I had very little experience with them. When they came to live with me, Teddy was there, and they were very tiny. I wonder how much a feral cat (or any cat, I guess) teaches her kittens, things they miss out on by losing her at a young age. Sophie and Molly don't seem to be very cat-like sometimes. They didn't know about grooming themselves, for example. They're hesitant about jumping from one thing to another. They watch birds but aren't that interested in them. Molly meows only occasionally other than when she's in her carrier on the way to and from the vet, and Sophie meowed once in a pathetic little voice and shocked us both. Molly has stopped drinking water from her paw but still makes scratching motions in front of the water dish before she drinks. She still eats with her paws a lot and seems to have a hard time picking dry food up with her mouth. She still licks wet food and leaves the pieces. I'm not sure she knows how to pick up pieces of wet food with her mouth. They do Teddy things, like standing on their hindlegs next to my chair and nudging me with their noses, lying on the floor with their heads on my feet, and running to the door when the doorbell rings. I wonder if I should have done something more to help them be cats.