Month-by-Month: June

June was a big month all around ...

The dance recital
I've written before about how much Annika loves her dance class, but from the start I had no intention of having her be in the recital -- at the time I was signing her up, I really just thought there was no way it'd be a big deal, she wouldn't know any better, I didn't want to deal with it. But they practiced their dance in class (to the Ronettes' "Be My Baby"), and it started to become a big deal, and then the costumes were handed out in class. She cried and cried -- they were hot-pink tutus with satin halter bodices, cute as all get-out, and she was devastated that she wouldn't get to wear one or be in a show. I felt bad, but promised her we'd do the next one. Well -- the week of the show, the teacher emailed me to say one of the kids couldn't be there, and offered to let another kid borrow the costume. I jumped at the chance, and through a complicated series of maneuverings to actually get hold of the garment and pay many unanticipated charges (ahh, like the four-ticket purchase minimum) and go to a dress rehearsal that lasted three hours on a Friday night, the show was on Saturday, June 2. Her class was the second number in the show, and it was ADORABLE. Just out of control cuteness. Lukas did his part by getting fussy about six dances in, so that R. got to see Annika but had to skip out on most of the rest (waaah). And she loved it so, so much -- all the hassle was worth it. Next time, I'll know: She wants to be in the frickin recital! Gosh!

Lukas crawls
He'd been working on it for awhile, but on June 7, he did his first documented actual crawling. And now, nothing is safe from his grabby little hands ... NOTHING.

Tooth!
Well, teeth, actually. On June 11, the little white nubs that had been giving him such misery poked through and became actual teeth -- two of them on the bottom, chompy and cute and hilarious!

Swimming
Thanks to us finally getting summery weather and also long days that allow for some after-school pool time in addition to weekend time, Annika is turning out to be a regular swimmy frog -- she was getting so confident with her floaty suit that she wanted to try swimming without it. Coach R. (heh) worked with her, teaching her what to do, and she just -- jammed on it. On June 16, she did her first unassisted side-to-side swim ... and then her first end-to-end swim, there-and-back swim, jumps into the pool -- she was near unstoppable! It was amazing how quickly she learned, and how determinedly she worked at it all. We were both just so, so proud of her, and it shows no signs of stopping. Every time she gets in the pool, she adds another skill. We may not even take that floaty suit to Hawaii!

Telling time
The nights are short and the sun gets up reeeeeally early ... which means, so does Annika. Which is especially brutal since I'm usually up with Lukas at least twice each night (or four or five on the worst nights). So I taught her how to tell when it's 7:00 or after on her little purple wristwatch, and now almost always she can wait until that time to burst through our door with a book she wants read to her. I never thought I'd see 7:00 as a victory ...

The Quotable Annika

One naptime, or rather what I would like to be naptime, but never ever is, in the big bed in our room: 
Her: "My chapter book" -- a Little House book -- "has pictures in it. Does yours?"
Me: "Nope, no pictures."
Her, with expert timing and perfect dude-bro intonation: "Bummer."

"Tricked ya!"
--What she loves to say after she pulls some not-very-tricky trick, like holding up two fingers sideways and asking if it looks like one finger, and you say yes, and she says, "Tricked ya!" Like that. Y, a. Ya. Hilare. 

"Is there such a thing as Happy Science?"
--On learning, with some consternation, that the special thing the next day at school was to be "Mad Science."