Update on June

For other posts referencing June click here, and click here.

Since around mid-September June has been prominent in our lives here at the Johnson-McCormick home. She started out as what seemed like a little 'crush' type thing for Owen. But slowly and surely she has morphed into something much larger. She's evolved into a full-blown imaginary friend... for both boys. K & O haven't even seen an episode of The Little Einsteins since about early October. They have no interest whatsoever. And from what we can gather, at this point, we don't think that the current June even resembles the original June in any way at all (except that she is for sure a girl and we're pretty sure she's still Asian -- Owen describes her as "not white" and "not brown" but rather as "pink"). At first this whole June craze was entirely Owen's thing. In fact, when Owen would talk about June Kyle would look at him like he was crazy. From time to time Kyle would look at Braydon and I like we were crazy too (for playing along with Owen regarding June). But over time Kyle has come to not only accept Owen's imaginary friend, but to fully take her on as his imaginary friend too. They now both completely and wholly share June. They play with her constantly. They talk about her incessantly. She's with us for everything we do, everywhere we go. June is now like another member of our family. Seriously. She's with us in the car; often we have to wait for what feels like hours for the boys to "buckle her in." She's with us in restaurants; they want to order for her (and she always has the same thing they're having in). She's with us at the dinner table; outside playing; in the playroom; in the bathtub. She helps us fill the bird feeders. She helped us decorate our Christmas Tree. We have to wait for her to catch up sometimes when we're walking. She sings songs with us and reads books with us and plays games with us. She plays along with K & O's silly jokes. She apparently thinks they are hysterical when they make funny faces at her. Braydon and I have to pour a third glass of juice -- for June. We have to set a third place setting at the table -- for June. We have to put a third toy in the tub -- for June. We have to help her into the grocery cart so that all three of them can fit in together. We have to make space on the couch so that she can snuggle in tight with us. June never has "bad behavior" --- never ever. She has never once had even a short Time Out. She's "always a good June." June is perfect in every way. Sometimes there seem to be two of her (when both boys need her to do something with them at the same time -- i.e., they'll both have June on the back of their scooters at the same time, or they'll both have June pushing their baby doll strollers with them at the same time... this always seems to work out just fine for them. "Two Junes!" No problem.) Sometimes (most of the time) there is clearly one of her. K & O always agree on what she's doing at any given time. They tell us stories about her with zero disagreement. If we ask questions about her they both have clear, coordinated answers and explanations regarding June (i.e., "What is June wearing right now?" might be answered-- in unison-- "a dress! and underpants! and she has a magic wand!"). They have never fought over June. Neither K or O is more dominant about June. Both boys initiate talk of June equally. She is ever-present. We don't go for more than an hour, ever, without hearing something about her. I asked about June at our Parent-Teacher conference at the boys' school. Interestingly, their teacher had never heard of June. I was shocked. Given her larger-than-life presence at home it is hard to believe that she's not at school (especially since she's definitely in the car on the way to and from school). The boys' teacher seemed disappointed to not have known about June -- she admitted she loves it when a kid has an imaginary friend, she believes it is a sign of above-average intelligence, and she is absolutely fascinated with how one imaginary friend would play out amongst two twins (she's had twins many times in her classes but never known of twins who share an imaginary friend). She asked me lots of questions about June. I gave the best answers I could. She said she was going to listen closely to see if June is there at school. I told her I'd be surprised if June wasn't there. I haven't checked in with her to follow up. I'll try to remember to do that soon. K & O have already told us (numerous times) that June is going to be with us for Christmas, and that she's going to be at their birthday party, and that she is going on vacation with us (even though we have no vacations planned). June is here and doesn't seem to be leaving anytime soon.