How to stop the whining

We are starting out 2nd week with our new buddy at home – he’s now 10 weeks and doing great! He handles being crated for a few hours at a time when we need to head to work; he’s doing fabulous! He has a pen attached to his crate, that he is in when we are home. This is where we are having an issue. He whines constantly- both when we can see him and when we can’t. (Ie, run to the other room quickly). We give him lots of play time and attention; but need to have a safe space for him when we are home, hence the pen… how do we break the whining? He can climb up the pen (we’ve switched to a 42” pen, so he can’t climb over, but we don’t trust him not to hurt himself). How do we start helping him feel comfortable in his pen and relaxing. (He’s also so anxious when we’re around the house, so not sleeping as much as he should be).

Adding to the situation- he’s great in the pen- curls up and snoozes, when we are sitting in the living room, or a few minutes after we have all sat down to dinner. It’s when we are moving around/on our feet.