Sometimes, the boys are totally enthralled by the stories Puppy E reads to them. They like it when she teaches them about the world.

Other times, they get silly — especially Doodlebug — and inspire big, bright peals of laughter in the puppy as she looks on with delight.

But most commonly, everybody just chills out. Chick favors more classic relaxation poses, while Doodlebug prefers his signature Dead Bug Pose, which he has been perfecting for years.

Last week we had a stretch of beautiful, 75 degree days here in Austin, and we took full advantage by spending all our time outdoors. Naturally, the boys wanted to join us in whatever we were doing. They happily found soft spots on the puppy’s blanket and basked in the pretty weather.

Overall, everybody is getting along great these days. Chick and Doodlebug are enormously interested in the puppy when she’s eating finger foods in her high chair, but otherwise still think she’s kind of boring — which is ideal.

We carefully set everybody up for success to make sure that when we’re all spending time together, the puppy is not pestering the dogs by pulling on their ears, grabbing their beautiful furs, or touching them in any way when they’re sleeping.

We’ve also noticed that the boys are much more comfortable around the baby — and much more eager to be near — if they have plenty of space to escape if they want to. It may seem counterintuitive, but in smaller, more enclosed spaces, they often seem anxious to keep their distance, whereas a big, airy room or the yard are the type of environment in which the boys are likely to snuggle up close to the puppy while she plays. 

Sure, we’ve been busy taking care of our puppy around here, but we’ve been busy with other things, too. Like jetsetting.

You may wonder, in fact, how I got SO pooped over Thanksgiving weekend at the Turkeyman’s house that I ended up like this all afternoon:

And I will tell you how it happened. See, we went out to Galveston Island State Park for some hikings one sunny afternoon — my brother, mama and dad, the puppy, the Turkeyman, and Grandma and me. 

This was already QUITE exciting because the park has the most excellent muds and sniffs, but it was an extra-special day, because mama let my Chick and me run off-leash!

So we ran and ran and ran. Chick ran right, I ran right. Chick ran left, I ran left. In fact, everywhere Chick ran, I was right on his tail. I guess I think of him as a good natural leader. And he sure did lead me! He led me to many crab snacks in the tall, tall grass.

Every once in a while, mama would call us back, and we would run over to her for a little treat and a quick pat, and then she’d send us off again. And after a while, I got adventuresome enough to do my own runnings, without even following my brother! Here’s a picture of me doing an adventuring without Chick:

We ran for what seemed like hours upon days upon hours. So by the time we were done with our hike and just doing some observations from the tall observation deck, we were both falling asleep sitting up. Especially Chick.

So then we got home, and dad gave us a big hosing-down. Hosing-downs are not our favorite, but since our undercarriages were quite mudded from our adventure, we didn’t hold a grudge.

But what is a gentledog to do if his entire undercarriage is wet? This:So I wiggled and waggled and rubbed my wetness all over mama’s jeans.

And then, mid-wiggle, I fell asleep. And I had sweet, sunny dreams.

*Thanks to our grandma for most of these handsome photos of me and my brother*