A summer of firsts for Jaybird

It has been a summer of firsts for the six-year-old in our family. Her top five:

1. Learning to read

This is an ongoing process, but she has definitely made real progress in reading on her own. We're hoping that she will be reading books in bed by Christmas.

2. First lost tooth

She had this loose tooth for MONTHS. In fact, when she went to the dentist before our trip to Alabama, we were convinced that she would lose it there. Nope. It just came out a few weeks ago. And even then, I yanked it out. Jaybird was happy to get a Sacagawea dollar from the tooth fairy.

3. First time riding a bike without training wheels
Sp, several of Jaybird's friends learned how to ride a bike without training wheels, which meant she wanted to learn, too. And NOW.

This led to a funny incident earlier in the summer. After falling off the bike one more time, she stormed into the house. "I hate God!" she announced. (A statement like that will get your attention.) "Je did NOT answer my prayer to ride a bike without training wheels, AND I FELL DOWN!!!"

So much growth in faith is inspired by crisis, no?

After giving her a hug and a little sympathy, we explained that a) God is not your servant, and prayers are not magic; and b) God usually wants us to use our own capabilities to achieve some good, because it is part of our human dignity to do so; and c) maybe God wants you to learn patience and persistence.

To which she crossed her arms, stomped her foot, "hmft'd" and said, "Well, I hate that rule!"

To her credit, she did persist, practicing her riding for up to an hour every day, despite various mishaps. And one day, she was able to announce that she had learned to ride: "I still have a few things to work on, though," she said with a totally straight face, "like braking and not running into trees."

On the day she learned to ride

4. Learning to swim

We covered this in an earlier post, but this has been a continued source of pride for Jaybird. She likes to show off how she can dunk her head under water, jump in the deep end, and paddle around. She even swam in the deep part of Fish Lake during our recent vacation.

5. First fish

We also chronicled this in an earlier video post. For weeks, she had been begging to go fishing, just like her older brother. We finally took her down to the lake, where they rent not only canoes and kayaks, but also fishing poles, for free. She liked catching it, but wouldn't touch it!

So, a summer of firsts. And in a week, she will be entering first grade!