Blog Biography number 2- preschool and kinder years

Preschool/Kindergarden years

Preschool seems to be defined as "3 and 4 year olds." When I was almost three my litle brother was born. He was born on Easter. I have no recollection of visiting them in the hospital but my mom says that I ate her mint chocolate chip ice cream.

When I was four I went to a "Special 4's class". The only thing I remember doing there was making an alphabet book and that when the teacher asked what "O" stood for I proudly said, "Oprah!" and she laughed.

I made an, "About Me" book in that class and it's pretty fun to look at still. We all laughed when we looked at the picture I had drawn of my family because first of all everyone was an "x" body with a floating head. Everyone was smiling except my mom, who was without a doubt frowning.Being a teacher's aide now I would definatly wonder why any of my kids would draw their mom that way. My dog, cocoa, also looked like a flying tooth. I sucked at drawing, still do. According to my book my favorite color was red, yet the cover of my book was purple and it was tied together with pink yarn, colors I remember being absoulte favorites. My favorite food was ice cream, I was 3 feet 8 inches tall, and weighed thirty nine pounds.

I spent lots of time with my grandparents, who lived a mere 5 minutes away. They were a big part of my life growing up and I had/have a very special relationship with them.

My mom and dad decided to homschool us so I never went to a traditional pre-school. However, my kept me busy and by the end of preschool I was learning to read. I don't remember much else but I do have vague memories of learning what each letter said and how many different sounds they had.

I know that our family wen to church every week but again, I don't have any specific memories. My real memories start when I am around 6 and after my youngest brother was born.

I have some silly memories of things like my parents declaring that it was time to, "put us away" and having my dad hang me in the coat closed by the back of my shirt. I'm not quite sure how he did it without it choking me but I do remember being terrified as the door closed and it got very dark and I also remember my parents laughing.

I also remember my dad tossing me into bed and then "tucking me in." He would lift the entire mattress and tuck the sheets in real tight and I remember not being able to move and loving it.

I remember my mom letting us make "magic pudding" on Saint Patrick's Day. She got pistachio pudding and put the powder in a tuperware bowl. Without the milk the powder looks white. She then added the milk and had us shake the bowl and it "magically" turned green. That is a very vivid memory.

I know I was a chatter bug, my parents said I never shut up. My mom says that every though that passed through my head came out of my mouth and that I drove them nuts often times. Other than that I don't have very many memories of being that age.

Next week: Age six/first grade

Blog biography number 1

Janna published a post on Works For Me Wednesday a while ago stating that she wanted to do an autobiography of sorts for the next 15 weeks starting today. I love this idea because I am big into history and recording and fun little facts and stuff.

Today's first topic is: Details about my birth/how I got my name.

SO...

I was born on a rainy Wednesday evening in April. The firstborn of my parents three kids. My mom is a tough cookie and didn't want any unnecassray medicine used while I was being born. The nurse on duty wanted to put an internal fetal moniter on me (a little device they screw into baby's head to moniter the heart rate). My mom asked the nurse if I was in distress and when she responded that no, I wasn't, my mom told her she wasn't going to stick anything into my head. The nurse then wrote "Uncooperative" in large letters across the top of my mom's chart. :)

As my mom was being defiant my dad was fighting the flu. He didn't want to tell the doctors he was sick because he was afraid they wouldn't let him be in the room for my birth. So, in between the doctors and nurses comings and goings my dad took swigs of pepto bismol out of the bottle he had in the pocket of his shirt.

My mom gave birth to me after over 24 hours of labor (sorry mom!). I was born not breathing so they rushed me out of the room and didn't allow my mom or dad to hold me. The staff must not have been very good because they didn't tell my parents where they had taken me and no one ever came back to reassure them that I was ok. So I guess about an hour later my mom informed my dad the he needed to go find her baby.

I turned out to be ok (obviously!) and I was named Elizabeth. My mom said that she knew I would be a girl, although the doctors never told them what I was. My parents really liked the name Sarah but my last name has s's in it and it just didn't flow very smoothly. Elizabeth is my maternal great grandmother's middle name. My mom really wanted me to be called Beth but that never ended up happening.


June 17th: pre-school/kindergarden years