Mr, Kitten, now known as Duke (sometimes pronounced as Du-uke, drawn out to two syllables), will be 10 weeks old on Tuesday, and it's an interesting developmental time for him and for Ms. Cybelle.

Duke's still playing most of the time with Cybelle. He's made overtures to the other cats and is no longer scared of them, although he's still cautious.

Cybelle's spending most of her time with Duke. "He's the only intact male," was Dr. Nagata's quick explanation during a checkup yesterday at VCA in Kaneohe, apparently discounting the two neighborhood tom cats who have been "around" for several weeks. An astute comment by Dr. Nagata, since Cybelle is just returning to "normal" after 3 weeks in heat.

As Duke gets to be more independent, Ms. Cybelle is also beginning to show more signs of her own personality. Up until now, she's been defined, first by her pregnancy, and then by the kittens. Now she's beginning to explore. She made her first tentative climb onto the kitchen counter just this morning (which I presume some might not define as progress), and is trying to interact with other cats.

I apparently did a good job at following the instructions to give her as much as she wanted to eat. The proof is on the scale. She weighed in at 6 pounds and a few ounces on March 1, the day of the rescue, and yesterday hit the scales at over 9 pounds. But she's been romping up and down the hall with Duke, so hopefully she'll slowly get back into shape.

Duke, meanwhile, was measured yesterday at 2 pounds, 12 ounces. Just a few ounces beyond the kitten rule of thumb, a pound of body weight a month.

I can't explain why I've got pictures of Duke in action, but the camera only catches the two of them while asleep. Actually, there are shots of them at play, but they don't stop to strike photogenic poses. Unlike Mr. Duke.

He's obviously decided that this is one of his good angles. Or could the photographer be contributing to that perception?

Meda found a description of a Tabby Point Siamese, which has tabby markings on its legs, tail and head. That's Duke, except that he also has a tabby pattern emerging on his body, complete with a classic tabby bulls eye on his side.

Pens have been favored toys this week, along with various commercial cat toys which obviously are made for kittens, not cats. Duke's resurrected a number of them.

Here's Duke at play, with all his parts revved up and in motion except for his head, which gives the photo its energy.

It was a surprise find in a longer sequence taken this morning when Duke went to work on a towel which had been on its way to the laundry.

Ah, the joys of kittenhood.