My little one recently decided to be a “puppy for the afternoon”. As a teenager, I had several younger siblings, and I distinctly remember when they went through their “puppy phases”. I will never forget how hard I laughed as I poured a bowl of milk, and watched my pesky little sister get down on her hands and knees on our kitchen floor to lick the milk up out of the bowl like a dog. If only they had digital cameras in those days.
But the older I get, the wiser I am, so there was no time for taking humiliating pictures this time. So I put on my thinking cap and I quickly harvested his puppy-like energy. I found out that my son is an incredibly talented and obedient puppy dog.
When given tasks that would normally evoke sulking, he instead went and did them all in an especially peppy puppy way. Then he would return (running on his hands and knees) with his bottom wiggling and his tongue dangling out of his mouth, panting just like a happy dog.
Never mind the constant yipping and yapping as he “barked”, he got a lot of chores done last night, and happily as could be. Fetch the trash and throw it in the trashcan, I said. Pick up your toys and take them to your doggy house room, I said. That happy little puppy even picked up a hundred teeny tiny legos and put them in a zip lock bag. I never knew puppies could do that.