July 2012
1 post
5 tags
Potty Training… Age 2
Colors. Bright green. And Brown. Trees. I’m outside. Front yard. Mommy’s there. Kitty! I want a kitty. Large Shadow. Daddy the Tickle Monster. I run. Darkness. I keep running. Darkness all around. Something up ahead. I get closer. A toilet. Good. I sit down. No!
My eyes snap open, afraid I was too late. I’m not. I sit up and carefully climb out of bed. Down the hallway and into...
May 2012
3 posts
7 tags
Run Nakkie… Age 3
I didn’t want to take a bath. I hate baths. But now that I’m in, I’m having too much fun to get out.
Daddy pulls out the plug. I stand and he wraps a fluffy towel around me and lifts me up out of the tub. All of the floating bath toys gather round the drain while the rest lay at the bottom of the tub.[[MORE]]
Daddy walks me to my bedroom to help me put on my pyjamas. But I...
5 tags
Most Precious Gift… Age 5
I’m turning five today! Mommy and Daddy said they had a surprise present for me. But we had to go pick it up first. I was bouncing in my carseat, completely unable to sit still in anticipation.
We pulled into a parking lot, and parked in front of a strip mall. Mommy told me to wait in the car while they went in and got my present.
While they were inside, I pressed my face to the car window...
6 tags
Lion King… Age 4
I was so excited- the Lion King was out in theaters today! Mommy and Daddy were probably going to take me to it this weekend!
At Kindergarden, everyone was talking about the new movie and how awesome it would be. One kid, though, knew a bit too much about it.
“Mufasa doesn’t die,” the kid said boastfully. “I saw it already. You think he’s dead, but he comes back...
April 2012
5 posts
5 tags
Trip Through Time… Age 6
Crack open a can of Dr. Pepper. The hiss of escaping carbon dioxide; the distinct smell of the sugary liquid within. I am instantly transported back to a simpler time.
I am six years old, standing in the front yard with my child-sized spade and rake, helping my mom plant flowers. Dad is in the grass, pushing the lawn mower.
The day is hot and a bit humid, and Mom is wearing a large gardening...
5 tags
The New Neighbors… Age 5
“Let’s go visit our new neighbors,” Mom said.
“Do I have to?” I asked. The last thing I wanted to do was meet the people who moved in down the block. It would be a boring meet-and-greet, with the adults talking for hours while I sit there tugging at Mom’s arm to leave.
“I think they have a daughter your age,” Mom added.
[[MORE]]
...
6 tags
Life's Woes… Age 9
Finally! All of my other friends had already read the newest book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which had been published a week ago. Unfortunately, I had only been on book 3 at the time, and had to finish that first before starting this one. I had been so tempted to forget it and just skip to the Goblet of Fire, but everyone I suggested it to insisted that I had to read Prisoner of Azkaban...
5 tags
Mr. Sun… Age 4
Dad was driving me to another day at Day Care. From my big girl car seat I could look out the window at the houses and other cars, and all the trees and bushes as they passed by. Sometimes the sun would get in the way. I hated those times.
“Daddy, the sun’s in my eyes!” I whined as I squinted stubbornly out the window.
“Look the other way,” Daddy said. What a stupid...
4 tags
The Call… Age 15
The day started like any other. Normal weather, normal classes, normal fourth period Language Arts. I would like to say that I started getting a bad feeling around 11 that morning, or maybe around 1 that afternoon. But no, I had no clue that my life was going to turn upside down when I walked into Language Arts that day. I managed to figure it out, though, and it was all thanks to a phone call.
...
March 2012
4 posts
6 tags
Meeting Snow White… Age 5
“You remember Autumn,” Mom said absently, her eyes fixed on the road. “Sara’s cousin.”
“I dont wanna go,” I muttered, glaring out the window.
“There will be cake and ice cream,” Mom tempted me. “And Snow White will be there.”
That caught my interest. “The one from the movie?” I asked.
“Yes.”
At the...
3 tags
Favorite Color… Age 4
“What’s your favorite color?”
“Green!” I always answered. And it was. Red was nice, and there was a lighter red that was pleasant to look at; orange and yellow never appealed to me; blue was a neat color, and there was a specific, darker blue that I really liked, but if I said ‘blue’ no one would know it was really the other shade I was talking about....
3 tags
Mom's business trip… Age 8
“Do you have everything?” Dad asked, sitting on the stairs while he pulled on his snowmobile boots. “Neck warmer, gloves, boots, coat?”
“Almost!” I called from the downstairs living room. I already had my snow pants on and I was in the process of putting on my own pair of snowmobile boots.
It had snowed the night before, leaving a healthy layer on top of the...
15 tags
The Stranger… Age 6
As far back as I can remember, my parents have belonged to a local Yacht Club. Not a real Yacht Club, with giant 100 foot yachts that sail on open ocean. Instead, we sailed a Hobie 16 named The Lounge on the lake my grandma lived on. Every couple of weeks during the summer, there would be a regatta somewhere in the state, and if it was close enough, my parents would pack up their sailboat and...
February 2012
4 posts
4 tags
Mile Marker 202… Age 7
“Are we there yet?” Those four words are the most dreaded by any parent who squeezes a week’s worth of clothes and a family of four into a 1997 Pontiac for an eight-hour drive across the United States.
My grandparents were always the first to begin the annual Thanksgiving family migration to Kansas, and out of eagerness to play with my cousins as long as possible, I would leave...
5 tags
David and Goliath… Age 8
Ahh, soccer; the teamwork between offence and defence; the bias behind the teams where the strongest get chosen first while the weakest players are left to rot; the joy of you and your third grade class mates pointlessly chasing a ball up and down a field to score a goal.
I. Hate. Running.
But wait.
Two soccer balls; now that has possibilities. Twice the amount of balls means twice the number...
5 tags
The Box… Age 8
I was always teased as a child that I would get a lump of coal for Christmas if I misbehaved. Every year my dad would warn me of the lump of coal that never came. While coal is the worst gift to receive, the best gift is the largest gift under the tree; as it is well known by all young children.
So when the three by two by two present appeared on Christmas Eve, all of the grandkids could hardly...
3 tags
The Bubblegum Story… Age 5
I dont know exactly what I know from my own memory and what I know from listening to years of its retelling, but it will be told from My daddy’s point of view because that is how I know it best.
“I was laying on the couch in the living room. It was about twelve o’clock at night and my daughter, Dhalim, walks past me and goes into the kitchen. She does this every once in a while,...
January 2012
1 post
5 tags
They Start, You Finish… Age: 4
I was always told ‘treat others the way you want to be treated.’ They told me ‘it is mean to call people names or punch or kick.’ I thought I would get into trouble if I ever did any of those things.
The second I stepped into kindergarten, fresh from preschool, I was teased and pushed around by the larger kids. I came home every day and my daddy would ask, “Peanut,...
