Mum says all corgis love soccer. My Auntie Diane (who is especially smart about dogs, in general) brought me a little furry soccer ball as a baby gift when I first came to Rose Cottage. Lily says ALL balls can be soccer balls; it’s the way you play with them that is soccer. She shows me how to put her paw on it and send it flying. She seems to dance around it, kicking it just a little, then grabbing it back and butting it with her nose. She says Mum and Daddy say “GOAL!” when she tosses is with her nose.

Most times, she just wants them to throw the ball down the kitchen floor. She chases after it, usually sliding the last foot or so, almost into the stove; then carries it back – slowly if I am just watching but fast and furious (for her) if I chase it, too. I am much faster, I must admit, and I have a secret (Daddy knows) that I could easily beat her to the stove and claim the fuzzy ball. But it seems more fun to watch Lily grab the ball and chase her both there and back, pretending to snatch it from her or, sometimes, just nipping at her shoulders and haunches. “I’m going to take it, I’m going to take it!” I taunt her and she really believes I might so she crabs, “No you won’t, No you won’t” all the way back to them.

Yesterday, my girl cousin from Iowa came to meet me. Hooray! Finally -- a human just my size. When I tried to hug her, my nose came up almost to her face (instead of knees) and a couple of times I threw myself so hard she fell down and I covered her face with kisses until they pulled me off. Breanna’s Mum laughed and mimicked the way I wagged my tail by wiggling her butt – then everybody laughed. Matt’s friend, Shayne, is on leave from the Navy so they all stop by, too, and Mum says it’s a madhouse. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many legs and heard laughter so much and so loud. But Breanna is perfect and I love her (even though she was always suggesting maybe I needed to take a nap in my baby crate). Mum says Breanna is the same as me because she is three. I just know that she smells delicious and we are both little and its fun to have someone my size for once.

It’s very late when everyone leaves and Mum and Daddy don’t say much. Mum sits down on the floor with me because it’s time for bed and she’s too tired to play anymore. We snuggle up in bed but I can’t sleep – I keep thinking about Breanna, wondering when we’ll get to play again. Lily doesn’t like her too much but she also didn’t like that Breanna liked me best. I noticed she was getting plenty of hugs and pets from Shayne. Oh well, I like Breanna best, anyway.

But I can’t sleep so I jump off the bed. Mum will be cross, I think, but I don’t care. I don’t like it when everyone else is sleeping and I still want to play. I creep into the bathroom, then guestroom, then the dining room and kitchen but there is no one to play with. Then I see the baby crate, with its soft, warm blanket and the door open.

“Oh!” Mum says when she comes running out to the dining room in the morning. “What a big girl, I suppose; to go to bed in your baby crate all by yourself!” Daddy laughs when she tells him and Lily comments that that is a grand idea but Mum says she doesn’t like me jumping off the bed in the middle of the night and I will have to sleep in the baby crate until I am big enough to know.

I’m not sure what I am suppose to know more, but I do know I missed sleeping with Mum, Daddy and Lily and that it was kind of lonely in the baby crate. I will have to turn on my charms at bedtime. We will see what we will see . . .