Puppy playpen

Little babies can get into lots of trouble before they learn the rules, so mommies and daddies need to do special things to make sure that houses are safe. My mommy and daddy knew I was coming to live with them. They did a lot of stuff to where I was going to live so that I could play and learn and not get hurt.

Mommy said, "Hmmm. My boy needs a special place to play. He needs a place where he can rest and stay out of trouble for a few minutes." Uncle Jed's mommy, my Aunt Janey, said, "Let us buy Dewey a gift. He needs a puppy playpen. Let us buy Dewey a puppy playpen. He can stay safe there."

They bought me a puppy playpen.

Then I came home. "Woo hoooo," I said. " This is a fun place! This is my home?! My new home is fun!"

I started running around, all crazy-daisy. I ran really fast, right toward the big stick things that keep people and bigger puppies from falling into the downstairs.

Guess what. I was so little I almost ran right through those big stick things. "Yikes," my daddy and mommy said. "This will not work." My puppy playpen became a puppy fence. Then I could not fall through the holes and get hurt. That was good. But then I did not have a place to play.

"Run," my mommy said to my daddy. "Run like the wind to the store and buy our boy a baby playpen." Daddy ran, and he brought home this little place where human babies go to be safe. They put it in the big room where we watch TV. Then they put me in there with some of my new toys.

"Hey," I said. "You're out there. I am in here. I want to come out there."

"Not now," Mommy said. "I need to so something that little boys cannot help me do. You need to stay there for two minutes."

I did. And I stayed there for other minutes, when little boys could not help. Sometimes, it was fun to have all of my toys and my bankie right there with me. Most of the time, though, I really wanted to be out there, exploring stuff, getting into things, and being with Mommy and Daddy.

Sometimes, I got so mad that I stood on my back legs and said, "HEY! Let me out of here." When that did not work, I ran. I ran really fast, around the the sides of the playpen. I ran and ran and ran. I still did not get out of the playpen, but I did get really tired. Then I gave up, plopped down, and fell asleep.

Oh, and I stayed safe. I guess Mommy and Daddy were right about playpens.

Yardwork helper

In the summer, when the green grass grows really tall, I have an important job to do: help Daddy make the grass short again.

Daddy pushes this thing that makes the grass short. We go really far - clear across the yard. Then we go back. Then we go across the yard. It is hard work. Gosh, grass grows fast!

Here is a picture of me helping Daddy.

Sometimes, Daddy needs to stop and throw a frisbee. Daddy says the work would not be so long if those frisbees did not keep coming back to him.

I try to make it go faster. Like those big grasses that grow by the fence? I make them go short all by myself.

Daddy says he needs the weed eater to make those grasses go away. I try to be a good weed eater. That is what good helpers do, you know.

When all of the grass is short again, my Daddy and I come into the house. "Whew," we say, "that was hard work." We take big drinks of water. Then we rest. We need to be ready to do it again next week.