The babies have their eyes fully open now and are starting to get more interested in their external environment. They're making the transition from eat-and-sleep machines to playful kittens! They're staring to groom themselves and each other, and bite each other, too! Playfully, of course. Maybe they're tasting each other. I'll need to set up a litter box for the kittens soon--they'll be 3 weeks old tomorrow!

Individual personalities are becoming apparent. Elke is the quiet one; sometimes she'll mew softly, other times I see a silent meow. Thor seems quite outgoing; he was really hooked on licking my arm yesterday! Luci still meows QUITE loudly when picked up! They all seem to love tummy rubs.

Mama VK loves tummy rubs too. I try to give her plenty of love and cuddling too, and tell her what a good mama kitty she is.

Thor (in front) is still the biggest and maintaining his lead. I believe that's Dorian at the back--he's still the runt but is growing nicely.

Mama VK and two of the kittens were having some eye issues--runny eyes in Mama's case, and eyes getting stuck back shut again in the kittens' case. I took all the kittens with me to the vet (didn't want to separate them from Mama, and also figured the vet could help me determine their gender for sure).

I had already determined that Luciano was probably a girl--this was confirmed, so she's Luci now.  Thor and Dorian are boys, Dougless, Elke, and Luci are girls.

Anyway, got eye drops for VK and eye ointment for the kittens. The ointment is easier to apply than the drops! All of them started looking better after the first dose. Luci did so much better that I had a hard time determining which eye to medicate! 

Here's that growth chart I promised:

 All but Dorian have about tripled their birth weights. One can see that Dorian has been growing more quickly in more recent days. They'll probably be ready to start eating and drinking from a dish within the next week. . .