whaddya do when you can’t sleep at 4-flippin-a.m.? blog.
here are some of the first memories that come to my mind when i remember these ages in my life:
3 years old: learning to read with my mother’s help on her bed; taking a nap in my pre-pre-kindergarten class on those colorful mats, balled up and shivering as i didn’t have a blanket (you had to bring your own or pay extra for one), and then feeling so taken care of when the teacher covered me with a blanket as i pretended to sleep; wishing my best friend at the time would move back from mexico, seeing it happen shortly thereafter, and thinking along the lines of ‘i thought this into existence’
4 years old: not being able to pronounce my r’s properly and being so frightened to get up in front of the class to recite my colors (i couldn’t say purple); wearing a dark blue peacoat in the winter, having a runny nose, and wiping all my snot up and down the sleeves till they were streaked; sticking q-tips in my ears to play alien, forgetting they were there, and then jumping head-first onto my parents’ bed, busting my eardrum
kindergarten: some kid tattle-tailing on me that i had my eyes open during class prayer (and not realizing that if he saw me with my eyes open during prayer then the punk had his eyes open, too); my mom teaching me how to calculate 10% of numbers in order to tithe; playing the alien ‘we gotcha’ atari game (joysticks!) with my brothers; my mom’s taco salad
1st grade: sighing really loud as my teacher told us we were learning how to multiply (i already knew how to do this and wanted to make sure everyone in the class knew how much smarter i was and how bored i was with the current subject matter. me=punk); my first competitive track meet and wearing my red school shirt and little white shorts
2nd grade: replicating a guitar with my class chair (the kind with a hole in the back) by using rubber bands as guitar ’strings’ and driving my teacher mad as i got the whole class to follow suit; the book-it club; jimmy potter stealing my pink slap-wrist bracelet; getting shivers up and down my body each time the teacher hit our desks with her yardstick; realizing cabbage patch dolls did not grow in nearby cabbage fields
3rd grade: my first basketball team, tiny hands, and the inability to convert on fast break lay-ups; trying to convince a classmate that the easter bunny was not real; guilt-tripping a girl into giving me the other half of her 2-part best friends necklace
4th grade: dunking a nerf football into the monkey bar openings with my friend, nate; the p.e. teacher that looked like he swallowed a basketball; oregon trail
5th grade: watching my brother’s high school basketball games; impressing my teacher with my perfect cursive; really getting into spanish soap operas i couldn’t understand (our live-in maid slept in the same room as me and stayed up late watching these shows); early mornings, pink and purple running shorts with spandex underneath, 5K road races, trophies, and blue ribbons
stay tuned: middle school, high school, and beyond are still to come
now it is your chance to share some of your most vivid childhood memories…
I remember in kindergarten pulling all my class mates aside and asking them if they were saved and knowing John 3:16 didn’t count… you had to ask Jesus into your heart! So it was Dana’s turn and she said that she does have Jesus in her heart… I said good you can be my best friend then, and we have been friends ever since.
I also remember in like second grade making my brother pay me a dime to play with me… he cried and I got in trouble. What a mean sister I was!
BOOK IT CLUB!!!! Did you get free pan pizzas from Pizza Hut with the Book It club?!?!?!
one of my very very first memories was when i was still in my crib, believe it or not. my mom ran a daycare out of our apartment and had to be up early for the kids to arrive. i think it was really early in the morning and i could see the light in the living room, and i was standing in my crib, holding onto the side, waiting for my mom to come get me. i just remember being calm and knowing that she would be in there soon. so, either i was really young, or my mom kept me in a crib way longer than normal. i choose to believe the former.
@Judi- heck yes! personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut! Also you got a Book-It button and added a sticker to it each time you met your reading goal.
[...] Wonder Years 23 10 2009 Over a year ago I promised a follow-up to my ages 12 and up blog, one that recalled random yet vibrant memories from my childhood. It’s 1am in the [...]