I was a CUTE kid. Not sure what happened after that. I was borderline adorable until I hit my awkward teen angst years. It was ALL downhill. From ages 3-7, I had a nice run though.
I tried my darndest to remember my very first childhood memory. I have fuzzy recollections of pre-school and being in the “Red Apple” group. (The Red Apple group was, of course, FAR superior to the stupid Blue Bird or Green Frog group.) I wouldn’t call myself a child prodigy, but I was a quick study and wildly precocious. (Now I can’t learn a thing to save my life. Fortunately, I can still skate by on charm and charisma.)
But I think my earliest memory involved earlobes. Yes, earlobes. As a wee-one, I was fascinated by that little dangly (and thoroughly useless) part of your ear. Don’t ask me when my fetish started because I have no idea. I was constantly reaching up and grabbing people’s ears … gently tugging on their earlobe. It was kind of my way of shaking hands, I guess. Both my grandmothers were snappy dressers and always wore these bright, beaded, clip-on earrings. They were these giant shiny baubles. I was forever latching on to them and pulling them off. The grammas quickly wised up and stopped wearing them … but my obsession with earlobes (and/or shiny things) remained.
I clearly remember the first (of many) overly dramatic breakdowns. It was on the second or third week of kindergarten. My teacher (shout out to Mrs. Behrens!) had fallen ill and there was some rogue imposter in her place. I was having NO part of it whatsoever. Who was this stranger … who smelled faintly of patchouli? I threw a complete hissy fit until my mom had to come get me. There was NO way I was going to be subjected to this substitute’s inane banter or finger painting rituals. Mercifully, Mrs. B. never had a sick day after that. And all was right with the world.
Take two minutes and go in to your own personal WayBack Machine. What was YOUR earliest childhood memory? Mine took a while to sort out. Everything was a little fuzzy and then suddenly snapped in to place. Lemme know because I’m dying to hear about it … and mock you later.
I distinctly remember getting in trouble with my mom when I was five – she was trying to spank me. I started running in circles really fast in my mom’s English garden with all those hedges around them. She was in hot pursuit with a rolled up newspaper in her hand but could not catch me – so she said that I will have to come home anyways and she will take care of me then. I was hoping so bad that she would forget about it by then or that my neighbors would take me in.
Cute little Gerber Baby!
So precious and CAYUTE!!