June 2013

The Tooth Fairy comes to our house

Annika lost her first tooth on June 5 -- the bottom left front one. She was sooooo thrilled by this big event, and just about out of her mind with the excitement of the Tooth Fairy. That night, sure enough, three coins magically appeared under her pillow -- three dollars in exchange for a tooth from her lovely bright smile! And the permanent tooth started growing in right away -- it was more or less pushing the baby tooth out. 

The half-marathon 

Saturday, June 8, was the my half-marathon. It was in Alameda, so to make sure I got there on time and had a decent night’s sleep, R. took the Friday before off, and I went alone to the east bay and stayed in a hotel that night. The next morning, I went off to do my thing; it was tough, but highly enjoyable, and juuuust when I was really running out of gas, there by the path about a quarter mile from the end was my little family, with a big GO MOMMY GO! sign! It absolutely made my day! I ran over to kiss everybody, then finished the race strong and happy. And now, no more running for awhile ... arrrgh, what a time-suck the training was! Good to be back to easier mornings, cuddling in bed and reading the Little House books.

Swimming

This month, the weather was finally consistently warm enough to get the pool up to swimming temperature, and we were out there pretty much every minute we could be. Lukas loves to be in the water; we still have to hold on to him the whole time (he haaaates his little covered floaty thing now), but he has a great time and loves to blow bubbles, splash with his hands, be tossed into the air -- and even dunk under, if it’s with Daddy. Annika started twice-a-week swim lessons for the summer, and we could see the difference so much practice was making -- she is fully independent in the water, diving for rings, swimming nearly the length of the pool underwater, floating like she’s made of styrofoam, doing genuine freestyle armstrokes, the whole thing. She quickly earned her Octopus ribbon, and set her sights on the next one (Sea Turtle). These kids are waterbugs! 

Annika’s dance recital

The event Annika had been excited for all year long finally came on June 16: Her dance recital! Leading up to it, we had picture day (full dress/makeup/hair on a Sunday evening, after spending the day in the pool), dress rehearsal (10:30 a.m. on a Thursday), and then the main event on Saturday night. I used the old method of my youth to get her hair into the required curls: Take up a small section, spray it wet with hairspray, twist it on a curling iron, hold it till it stopped steaming, release the section verrry carefully. I grew up in Texas, I know how to do this. Anyway ... Her class danced to “L.O.V.E.”, in red tutus and their tap shoes. She looked insanely adorable -- and she really loved the on-stage experience! No fear, just dancing and smiling and excitement! We got lots of pictures at intermission (several with her little dance-class buddy Grace, who looks like a mini Zooey Deschanel). We gave her flowers, and took her out for dinner after; Lukas we left at home with a babysitter, since dance isn’t really his bag (yet), ha!

Camp Galileo

I stumbled across a camp that was using the kids’ elementary school this summer, so I had Annika choose what theme week she wanted (African Safari, June 17-21), and signed her up. The idea was to get her used to the campus, and to a 9-3 M-F schedule (if only for one week), plus have some fun, learn something, meet some kids -- and the whole thing was a big success! She loved it -- it was a mix of science, art, traditional camp games, etc. Lukas and I walked her home (it’s only about three quarters of a mile, through the park), so we were able to test that plan out too. It’s too expensive to do more than one week (it cost almost the same as a month at her preschool!), but we’ll do it again next summer. 

Getting ready for Kindergarten: School uniforms

The school the kids will go to for K-5 is public, but the district has a uniform policy -- which is actually a great idea, IMO. So I ordered most of what Annika needed from Lands’ End: navy skirts, short- and long-sleeved polos (white, and burgundy), navy cardigan, knee socks, ankle socks, etc. NB, she is not interested in pants or walking shorts, at all -- skirts and dresses only! Anyway, the plaid jumper and skirt can only be bought at this joint called Merry Mart, so we went to the ass-end of Santa Clara during “uniform rookie week” to try them on and get the sale prices. These things are not cheap -- $49 for the 100% polyester jumper, for example -- so I only bought one of those and one skirt. She looked so grown-up and official trying on the jumper that I about died ... but so cute that it was worth the trip! 

The Quotable Kids

LUKAS: 

     --Cuck! (aka truck, always shouted in excited awe)

     --Walk! (always a demand -- he doesn’t want to be carried)

ANNIKA: 

     --“I love my uniform hopper!” (aka jumper -- and it’s too cute to correct yet!)