Thursday, October 14, 2010

Piggy Tales: 1st perm, Thanksgiving, and family


Welcome back to the 2nd session Piggy Tales.  In the Session 1of PT, I wrote about PreSchool and Kindergarten.  Sit back, grab a muffin and join me in some memories I have of some early years. I'm having a little hot chocolate that would go great with your muffin, want to share some memories? 

1st Perm - 4 months old
Life in Okinawa and after must have been interesting.  Mom said I was a good baby and toddler.  My brother and I played extremely well together and were great best buddies. While there we got to visit many places and see many things (Great Wall of China and Hong Kong), but I remember none of them.  Mom said once she was downstairs and I was up taking a nap in our room and she heard whistling.  Thought it was the maid (no we were not rich, but it was expected), but when the maid appeared downstairs and the whistling was still going on, they investigated.  Yes, it was me whistling at less than 2 yrs. old.  I was a little more than 1 yr. old.  I've not been able to whistle ever since, no matter how hard I try.   

On the move:  We were transferred to the States, Boston for 2 yrs. before heading back to KS, where both my parents grew up and most of our extended family lived.  I loved living in KS - it is what I considered home growing up. It was a time to get acquainted with not only my grandparents, lived right across the street, but my cousins as well.
1st Thanksgiving in Okinawa
Thanksgivings were an especially a wonderful time. Mom and her 5 sisters would gather with their families at Grandma and Grandpa's house and it must have mass chaos with all those kids! There was always a flurry of activity as pies, 3-bean casseroles, mashed tators, the turkey, and more were baked.  The smells would waft through the window and it would be torture to smell because we knew we couldn't have any yet. Many times I got my hand slapped at because I was trying to sneak some yummy goody before it was time. There was a huge tractor tire right outside the breakfast window, under this wonderfully huge tree (just right for climbing),  filled with sand and Tonka Trucks and rolly pollies (pill bugs). it was wonderful to get spend Sometimes we would wander out to the chicken pen, or play games they taught us, like  Hide-n-Seek, Red Light-Green Light, or Freeze Tag in the yard. We would play in the cool of the day until we were called in to wash up for dinner. When we had all gathered around the large black dinner table, hold hands and pray over the food.  It was sure hard to stand still during that. I don't really remember where we all sat to eat - probably some of us went outside to sit on the swing, or on the porch, but it was always the best times.

Bryan and I: 2-3 yrs. old
School:  Kindergarten must have been something of an anticipation.  I had watched my brother get on the bus every morning and come home talking about what he had done and how he was learning how to read.  I was glad to not get the teacher he had, Mrs. Sirculomb.  She was a well-endowed lady with horned rimmed glasses perched on a perky nose.  Though her smile seemed genuine, her red flamming hair, piled like a bee-hive scared me.  Each morning, when Mom was getting me ready, she would use Dippity-Do on my hair to keep it in place.  I only remember that because a girl in my class, Kimberly Dewey and her last name had "Do" like in Dippity-Do.  Hope she never reads this!  Kindergarten was the place I met Dick and Jane with their dog Spot, learned my ABCs, and learned about recess rules. 

Do you have a particular memory when you were little or maybe a special book or lesson from Kindergarten?  I'd love to hear about it! 

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If you would like to read more Piggy Tales from other ladies, hope on Over to Mommy's Piggy Tales.   If you would like to join in and start recording your own Piggy Tales, contact Jana at Mommy's Piggy Tales to find out how  (jannajoy25 (at) hotmail.com). If for some reason you missed any of my previous posts, you can find them here.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

It's so much fun to poke around at other people's childhoods. It's funny that when I sat down to write my post it ended up being very different than I expected it to be.

Shelly said...

Oh my, you made me smile and laugh today at your post. I loved it!
You are very good at putting everything into words and letting the images pop in the readers heads.
Thanks for sharing such great memories.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I wonder why you could whistle so young but not whistle now?! I remember that I learned to whistle on the train in the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. I'm not very good at it though.

Thanks for sharing your story!

Jenn
Group 2

Tara @ Feels Like Home said...

What a special childhood! I hope you have pictures of you in all of those interesting places. Those would be real treasures!

MrsH said...

Your Thanksgiving sounds wonderful!

Laura T said...

I loved reading about Mrs. Sirculomb. It made me giggle!

Amy@ MomsToolbox said...

That photo of you getting a perm just makes me giggle! So cute!!

Janna said...

"She was a well-endowed lady with horned rimmed glasses perched on a perky nose." Love the description.

You and your bro are just precious.

My mom is one of four KS sisters and our family gathering are always fun and LOUD:)

Great stuff as always!