Getting bigger -- and cuter

Yes, I am still the cutest boy ever. My mommy thought you would like to see a new picture to prove it. She took this tonight.

I will be 8 months old next Sunday. My daddy says that I am still his little baby, but I know that I am a big boy! Well, unless someone is trying to get into our house. Then I hide behind my mommy...

Big boys have to follow the rules, so I am trying hard to do what my mommy and daddy tell me to do. They like when I remember. I like when I get to hear "Good boy!" and when I do not have to go to time out. I still have time outs, because I still bite Mommy. I do not know why. Sometimes, I want her to play when she has to work. Sometimes, I forget that you do not 'rassle with the mommy (only Daddy). Sometimes, I just do not know where to put my teeth. So I put them on my mommy's arm. Then I get a time out.

I am still trying to remember that rule.

I love my Daddy, and I like playing with him. Here, I am saying, "Hey, Daddy! Wake up! I want to play!" Daddy was asleep, but I woke him up. He pretended that I didn't, but I know I did.

Today, Daddy took me for a walk to the park. You know what? We saw moo cows! I never saw a moo cow before. They looked a little bit scary. But Daddy was not afraid, so I pretended that I was not. Daddy says Baby Royko loved moo cows -- and they loved her. He told me about a time when lots of moo cows ran to see Royko, right up to the fence. Then one gave her a big, old cow smooch! I would have been scared, but Baby Royko liked it. She liked moo cows. Horsies, too.

What I learned yesterday

I learned a new rule yesterday: Do not lock Mommy out of the house.

Mommy learned a new rule, too: Keep her keys in her pocket or find a safe place (like Uncle Jed’s house) for a back-up key.

Our “Mommy’s home!” routine started out like usual. Mommy let me into the house, then (because I like to jump on her and she might fall down) she went back out to the garage without me to lock my puppy door and fetch my water bowl. I followed my routine, too. I said, “Hey! I’m in here! I want to be out there!” Then I jumped up – and I flipped that little twisty thing on the door. That last part is not part of my routine. I found out why.

Mommy got a little mad. Then she got scared. I was alone in my house. She was alone outside of my house. Mommy ran to the business next door, where the nice people tried to help. One mister – the man with the puppies who bark at me – helped Mommy get into her car so that she could click the magic button to get back into the garage. Another nice man called a mister who knows how to open locked doors. We waited.

I could hear Mommy knocking at the door, calling my name and saying pretty words to keep me calm. It helped to hear her voice, but I wanted her voice inside. I was scared. I was hungry, too. I was tempted to get into stuff. I had the house all to myself. I could get into anything. But I was too scared to think about being naughty.

After lots of minutes, the lock man came and let Mommy into the house. I do not know how much money $45 is, but Mommy says she took it out of my treat allowance to pay the nice man. She will use more of my treat money to buy thank you snacks for the nice neighbors this morning.

I hope I remember this new rule. Mommy hopes she will remember to keep her keys in her pocket until we are both safely in the house. Oh, and she will call Uncle Jed’s mom to see about that key…

Too much rest

I have decided I do not like rest. Well, I do not like too much rest.

Because the doctor said that I must stay quiet and give my knee time to heal, my mommy and daddy would not let me do anything that I like to do -- no walks, no fetching, no running, no playing, no jumping. Gosh, it was like I had no reason to get up! I am a labrador boy, after all: running, playing, fetching and jumping are what we do!

I had to rest in my crate when mommy and daddy could not be here to watch me. I like my crate, but I like being able to be in my back yard and my giant dog house (translation from Mommy: the garage) more. I guess I cannot rest in those places, so I have been seeing a lot more of my crate. Too much.

Well, yesterday morning, I had enough. Boys need to run and wrestle. We need to burn energy. I have not been able to do that, so I had a lot of energy inside. My mommy fed me breakfast and asked me to help her by being quiet so that she could work. I said, "NO!!!!! I want to run! I want to play! I want to be crazy-daisy!!"

I admit, I was a naughty boy. I did not care. I barked and barked. I went in. I went out. I barked some more. I went out some more. When I did go out, I ran. I ran big laps around the yard, in that funny labrador way (Mommy says the labrador people call them butt-tucks. You have to see them to believe them.). I leaped -- from the grass to the top of the porch without touching any steps. Three times. I was out of control. It felt good.

My daddy could not sleep in all of the craziness, so he got up. We decided that putting my leash on and going for a walk would hurt me less than my puppy crazies would. So Daddy and I went for a walk. It felt really, really good. I slept for the rest of the day.