June First!

Happy June first, everybody!  I don't know if June will take advantage of this opportunity when she's older or not, but if my name were also a month, I'd be celebrating the 1st as if it were a national holiday.  I'm just sayin.

Today marks the beginning of June, 2010.  But for us this whole year has been the beginning of June, and what could be better than that?  A never-ending reminder of summer in a place that stays quite cold much of the year is not half bad.    It really is a little odd, you know, having a child whose name is also a month (and whose fault is that?  I'm not complaining).  The word just catches my eye and strikes me differently now, and of course it's everywhere.  "Help shorten the June pledge drive!" shouts an envelope in our mailbox from NPR.  "Hurry!  Sale ends June 5th!" screams another. 

I guess the same is true for Georgia and the whole state-name thing, but it doesn't seem to come up as often.  (And no, we didn't set out to end up with two nouns for girls, it just happened.)

So, what's up with the Junimal these days?

All of a sudden she seems BIG to me.  Still babyish, but suddenly more substantial, like you look at her going, "Wow! You're a real person.  When did that happen?" 

She's rugged.  She takes blows from toys ungracefully wielded by her sister with nary a whimper.  She laughed her head off for 25 straight minutes during our 7 hour car ride yesterday while Georgia entertained her with a hilarious game of keep away, otherwise known as "lightly thwack June in the face with my lovey over and over again".  (Actually, Joe and I were laughing from the front seat, too.  This was the best carseat to carseat interaction that we'd witnessed.)





I hate to compare her to Georgia at this age, but it's kind of inevitable, right?  On that note, her most
striking differences are her skin and her laughter.  I could write an entire post about the skin condition thing, but I'll spare you that.  Suffice it to say that Georgia had multiple diaper rashes resulting in doctor's visits and prescription creams and internal medicines, whereas with June I suddenly am privy to this new world where the child almost never gets a rash, and when she does get a little pink you put something simple on it for a few diaper changes worth, and it heals and goes away.  Imagine that!  As for the laughter, Georgia was a champion of the stifle.  She'd grunt and tense her muscles just refusing to let any giggles escape.  It was entertaining to us in its own way, but June's laughter feels like it's adding years to your life as it's happening.  I should take more video, because I can get her howling on the changing table, and I just want to eat her up its so adorable.


Caution: Curly when wet!

In a nutshell, June has officially entered The Danger Zone.  Sleeping and eating on a regular schedule.  Not yet fighting with her sister.  Pretty much going with the flow where ever we go.  And so soft, snuggly, squishy and lovable when you're holding her, that she's practically daring you not to gobble her up.

Oh, except....I could've alternately titled this post "Holy Crap!" because, well, she's crawling.  ACK!  Sometime between the beginning of May and now she went from occasional backwards scooching, to me asking out loud, "Where is June?" while making dinner because she had left the room.  I guess that was the moment I knew we'd have to officially declare her mobile.  Forgive me for not sounding happier about this milestone.  I mean, it is exciting for sure.  It's just that, among other complications that this presents, now I have two moving targets!  The photography on this website is about to take a big step backwards.  : )

We love you, Junebug!  Here's a video of you crawling to the shoe bait today - your favorite lure.