The next few days were fun! Well…apart from the very start, that is…

After having several meals of milk from Mother, I found – as did my siblings – that we had grown slightly bigger than the first day. Every now and then, I had noticed our parents leaving the den – as I called it – and returning after a few hours. Of course, they didn’t both leave at the same time but instead staggered their absences from us so one was always keeping us company and ensuring we were kept safe. Not that we really knew what danger, or safety, even was but we felt more relaxed by it nonetheless.

As for the thing I did not particularly enjoy…it was learning how to walk. How come my siblings have managed it so quickly, while I’m stuck with my face in my bum from tripping over my own paws?! Anyway, after many gruelling hours of attempting to stand up, my siblings soon realised my difficulties and came over to ‘help’. I say that with the utmost appreciation, however their constant nuzzling and nudging me only exacerbated the matter…

The next day, I finally managed to stand on my teeny paws and was soon barrel rolled into by one of my siblings. Swiping with my front paw, my blunt claws did nothing to my sibling’s face as he just nuzzled me and jumped on top. Watching our interactions, my other siblings thought it looked fun and so all piled on top of me. Crawling out of the heap of furry bodies, I climbed to the top and raised my little head high and wagged my tail in triumph!

Not wanting to be outdone, my siblings separated from one another, causing my once stable foundations to collapse beneath my feet…I ended up somersaulting across the den and faceplanting the wall. Although it hurt a little bit, one of my siblings came over and licked me which brought warm fuzzy feelings inside and made me forget the pain. Wanting payback for them making me lose my victor’s spot, I charged into the main culprit and bit at his ear.

After a while of playing, we fell asleep from exhaustion in a heap – already having forgotten about the reason for why we were ‘fighting’ in the first place. Mother soon woke us up for mealtime, which we all eagerly scrambled for in order to get that delicious milk! I wagged my tail in delight as the sweet taste went down my throat. Being a little overeager, Mother licked my head and nuzzled my back to try and calm me down which worked…

With no idea on how many days had passed of my siblings and I playing together, sleeping, eating, sleeping, playing together, sleeping and eating again it came as a surprise when our parents started nudging us towards the exit tunnel. With the sun shining brightly outside, we all immediately closed our eyes and rushed under our parents – afraid of the bright thing in the sky. “Why did I call it the sun…?”

A few minutes passed before our parents eventually tugged at our tails in encouragement for us to explore. Not feeling as afraid as my siblings were, I braved the area away from Mother and rushed towards a tuft of grass(?). Seeing me not getting injured, or suffering any pain from the sun, my siblings soon followed; we all began examining the grass(?) in front of us: sniffing it, licking it – blergh – and urinating on it. Definitely in that order. I repeat, we definitely urinated last!...Well…maybe one of us didn’t but it was definitely not me!

After playing around the den entrance for a bit, we soon grew tired and began collapsing on the ground from drowsiness. With the sun still high in the sky, our parents decided to just bask in the sun and let us sleep before heading back inside. When we woke up, the sun was near the end of setting and I noticed how my surroundings seemed to change from bright and glaring to grey and calming. Intrigued, I moved to explore our surroundings once again but was grabbed by the ruff of my neck by Father and carried back inside. “No fair!”

For the next few days, we got to go outside and explore the surrounding area. The sun still scared my siblings when we first saw it, however I already felt more familiar with it and so acted more bravely. Of course, doing so meant that I ended up falling into a puddle of muddy water – much to the seeming delight of my siblings when they laid their sun-adjusted eyes on me. “I will remember your mocking gazes! I’m looking at you, especially, sibling No.1!”

Due to the sun being very warm, the mud quickly dried on my fur which allowed me to rub it off while rolling around and bumping into my siblings. Since we had grown used to being outside the den, only one of our parents kept an eye on us while the other went back in the den to sleep. “Must be nocturnal…What does that even mean…?” A little perplexed over another word my mind just seemed to know, I lay on my back and stared at the clouds in the sky.

Curious about what I was doing, my siblings soon bombarded me with some barrel rolls before landing in a heap on top of me. I quickly bit all of their ears in protest, however my puny canines did barely anything at all against their fluffy fur. After a few minutes of all of us squirming, we all eventually settled down on our backs in a circle and stared at the sky. Feeling strangely calmed by it, I breathed a sigh of content that was soon disturbed by my siblings getting up and play-fighting again.

Hearing them giving light barks in the distance, I closed my eyes and listened to my surroundings. Sensing something staring at me, I immediately opened them and got up only to realise it was Father watching me with concern. “He probably thinks it’s weird that I’m not playing with the others…” Not wishing to worry Father, I cancelled my reverie and joined my siblings in a new game we had come up with the day before: the first one to get knocked over has to get chased by the rest of us. The last one to catch the target becomes the new target.