What a difference a few days can make.

On Sunday, the kittens were bouncing off the walls of their little world.

On Monday, one of them made an initial kitten-initiated departure. Scramble, scratch, thump. Over the side and onto the floor.

Then everything changed. By Tuesday, at four weeks old, both kittens were over the wall and off exploring the larger world. A single room to us, but a whole new world to them.

At the same time, Cybelle is beginning to signal that the end of nursing is somewhere in sight, and we responded by introducing food in a bowl. The book said to put some milk in a bowl, and your finger in the milk, and then to let the kittens suck the milk off your finger, repeating it until they find the milk. "You'll be amazed at how fast the kittens will pick up your message."

Ms. Kitten initially resisted the milk, but climbed out of the box and right into a dish of Cybelle's canned food. Mr. Kitten, who is a bit smaller, had more trouble "getting" it. But by this morning (Wednesday), both had figured it out and enjoyed a good serving of milk out of the bowl. It's quite a scene, since I have to hold back Cybelle, who is very interested in food bowls, at the same time as I'm trying to remind the kittens of what's in the bowl.

But playing is the thing right now. They've resurrected a little cat bed which the adult cats have mainly ignored for years. Now it's just a great place to sleep. And to wrestle. They're not too sure which is the priority.

Mr. Kitten found the heating pad box under a dresser, and declared it his own. Sometime later, his sister climbed in as well. And this is not a big box. I had to crawl around on the floor for this photo of the two of them.

I still can't tell the two of them apart. The little Ms. is a bit larger, for now at least, but their markings are remarkably similar.