Return of Memoryfest - Day 31/31

[bironic]

Last day. *sniff* Suddenly I am assaulted with ideas for memories, and room for only one of them. Let’s go back to the beginning. Or one of many beginnings.

31. Pre-school, Kindergarten, possibly Elementary School

The first book I remember reading had a duck for a main character. It was a picture book about making friends, I think. At the end, the duck and its friends gathered around a pond with lily pads and cat-tails, and there were plates with stacks of pancakes topped with butter and maple syrup.

There’s also a brief memory of one of those squishy waterproof books that you can take into the bathtub, but to tell the story would embarrass my sister, so we’ll leave it at that.

Later, I remember sitting on the couch in the living room next to my dad, as we often did while I was learning to read bigger books with more complicated vocabulary. I paused or stumbled over a long word, and he taught me how to break it down into easily pronounceable syllables. Take it one syllable at a time, he said, rather than trying to tackle the whole thing at once. For years and years afterwards, when someone reading out loud in class would fumble or freak out at a big word in a passage, I’d scoff (in my head) that they didn’t know this trick. (When what I really should have done was be grateful for having a father so patient and loving and excellent at teaching.)



And this is me at the tender age of two, doing what I do best. My dad snapped the photo on his Nikon slide camera as I slept in the car seat in Yellowstone Park.

And... there we have it. One month; 31 top-level memories and many, many more in comments. Stay tuned--the post-mortem is coming up this weekend.

Comments

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

*smiles*

See that? *points to icon* That's me. Nightdog. 1959. One year old and trying her damndnst to read.

She knew there was something magical in it, even then. Uploaded especially for you.

:-D

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, how adorable. I love that your reading material is twice your size.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

*squints*

I think that's a newspaper. If not, then it's probably Life magazine.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Makes me wish I was small again just for the weight of a huge book in my lap and having to stretch to turn the pages. Too bad there aren't many books around big enough to try that now. (I'm imagining an Edith Ann-type setup, complete with huge rocking chair.) Maybe some atlases, but those aren't much fun.

[roga.livejournal.com]

What a great, almost-poster-quality picture! I love the little bow in your hair :-)

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Hee! Thanks!

I love the little bow in your hair :-)

Which is really funny, because I grew up to be a totally non-bow-wearing girl. No froufrou girly stuff for me, no way. :-D

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

You both are just too cute for words! Alas, I have no photos of myself as a youngster reading—all such photos are at the family home (consider yourself lucky to be spared).

I can't really remember my first book. One of my early favorites, however, was about Timothy the Turtle.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

You posted that shot of you dancing, though, so we're even. More than even -- you were courageous enough to share a picture of yourself when you weren't just a baby. :)

Timothy the Turtle doesn't ring any bells. I do remember reading several books with accompanying audio tapes with my parents (they came from our library in clip-close plastic bags), most notably Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (http://www.amazon.com/Cloudy-Chance-Meatballs-Judi-Barrett/dp/0689306474), and other picture books like Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day (http://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Terrible-Horrible-Good-Very/dp/0689711735/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_k2a_2_img/105-7266917-0797215).

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

That story reminds me of the scene in Wit when young Vivian is reading with her father. Sop-or-i-fic.

You were adorable!

I don't have it scanned (I'll have to borrow it next time I visit my mother), but my parents had a series of studio pictures taken of my sister and I when I was about 2 1/2 and S was not quite one. In one of them, I'm looking up from a book with a devilish grin. Mom sent me the icon picture, because it reminded her of that photo.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I would love to see it if you remember next time there's a scanner handy. Sounds delightful.

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

The icon is from the same photo shoot - though this was innocent child, not devil spawn...

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I don't know, that could be a manic gleam in your eyes there. I sense mischief.

[jadesfire.livejournal.com]

Sadly words are more my thing than photos, so you're stuck with the emu :D

My favourite game when I was about 3 was a word one. Mum had small cards with simple words on them that she'd spread out all over the (rather small) living room floor. Then she'd read a word out and I'd have to jump on it. At that age, this about as exciting as it gets, which is probably why I still get such a kick out of reading.

Actually, she maintains it was purely selfish, teaching me to read as soon as possible - as a single parent, she needed something (preferably cheap) to keep me occupied while she got on with her work, and reading was ideal!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

At that age, this about as exciting as it gets

Heh. That does sound like a lot of fun. And selfish motives or not, if it got you reading, and so early, your mum's to be congratulated.

(Is it weird and/or pretentious for an American referring to an Englishperson's mother to say "mum" rather than "mom"?)

P.S. There are far worse things to be stuck with than an emu. The photo made me laugh.

[jadesfire.livejournal.com]

(Is it weird and/or pretentious for an American referring to an Englishperson's mother to say "mum" rather than "mom"?)

Nope! I don't think of her as my 'mom', so that would have been weird ;) The emu makes me smile as well, and, boy, do I need that today...

[bironic.livejournal.com]

It would seem, then, that we both do. Hope things, whatever they are, start looking up for you.

OK on the "mom"/"mum," then. Hard to tell whether it's better to risk sounding pretentious or to mildly offend the other person by enforcing an Americanism on him/her. :)

[jadesfire.livejournal.com]

I have a small stuffed dog keeping me company, and that's working wonders. Um, there's an explanation at my LJ *blushes*

On the spelling, I tend to think it's sensitive rather than pretentious, as it proves you know the difference! I had a (relatively) huge crisis over the spelling in my latest story, as it's Americans in America, but as the primary show is British and I'm British, I decided that we had the casting votes. *grin* But when I write House or Criminal Minds, I use American spelling, because, well, it just seems appropriate. Sorry to ramble - language fascinates me :D

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ramble on! You're in sympathetic company. I went through a similar "crisis" when I wrote a Harry Potter story over the summer. The characters were English, in England, but I'm an American writing in America; I ended up keeping American spelling and punctuation but making sure the characters spoke only with British phrasing. But HP fandom has been hopelessly polluted with American writers, anyway, so it wasn't out of the ordinary at all for the story to have double-quotes ("") and "z"s for "s"s and so forth.

(See? I ramble too. :))

Hope you're feeling better. That was funny about people not thinking the teddy bear was strange. You were the one with the story about losing an Eeyore cell phone case, right? and people thought it was cute rather than silly?

[jadesfire.livejournal.com]

*blushes* yup, the phone case story was me. I'm actually not nearly as soppy as those two stories make out, but somehow that doesn't seem to come across. :D I think it's more that I'm just willing to admit to these things! It's either a certain simpleness of approach or shameless exhibitionism. I'll get back to you...

[roga.livejournal.com]

Temporary userpic, uploaded just for this entry :-) And you look so adorable, sleeping in the car.

I don't remember when I learned to read. I'm pretty sure it was before school, but it probably from educational TV, not my parents.

I do know that I "read" them books, though, at least from the age of two. My favorite children's books were read to me many times that I had memorized them by heart, and so with every new book there'd come a point when I was no longer the one being read to, but the one telling the story - I'd recite it to my parents, and it was almost a game to see if I was flipping the pages at the correct marks or not.

And on that note, I'd like to thank you for this Memoryfest - I admit the idea seemed strange at first, but as it turned out every day I looked forward to reading your entries, reading about different people's experiences, and remembering a few of my own that I hadn't thought about in a long time. Three cheers, and a thank you.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm so glad to hear that it won you over, and am happy to have had you along for the ride. This is the sort of thing I'm hoping to discuss in the recap soon.

Cute photo! You and nightdog_barks with your massive reading materials. You look a bit like one of my cousins in that shot when he was very young. Which... means nothing to you, but there it is. :)

I don't remember learning to read per se, although I do have vague memories of learning letters on an Apple computer program called Stickybear, of learning to write in pre-school (and practicing cursive in second grade), and of sitting on the couch with that syllable trick mentioned up above. I can't remember a time when I couldn't read.

[roga.livejournal.com]

Ah, but baby Nightdog, and hopefully your cousin, don't have my huge Hobbit feet :-)

You had a home computer when you were that young? Wow. That's fairly progressed, isn't it?

My youngest sister learned English through a computer program. It was amazing - she could read and write in a second language at three, better than in her mother tongue. Computers are the bestest.

[musicisbelievng.livejournal.com]

Last day of Memoryfest... suppose that's my chance to redeem myself for not posting more.

I remember being in second grade and having the hardest time remembering how to spell "half" for an upcoming spelling test. *Someone* sat me down and said "happy and loving fuzzies." I giggled and then got 100 on the test the next day.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

:D That memory gives me happy and loving fuzzies in my tummy. *hug*

I give you all these very important language lessons, don't I? Donnez-moi ton vache, etc.

[musicisbelievng.livejournal.com]

Yeah, first day of french class and all I could do was ask someone for their cow and say "je voudrais un sandwich avec les concombres et les prawns." So useful. ::hugs back::

[purridot.livejournal.com]

How odd -- that story about the ducks and the pancakes activated something very vague in my memory.

I remember my favourite childhood book was about a dachshund, with the same name as *our* dachshund -- or so I thought. When I finally learned to read, i was so horrified to see that that was not really the name of the dog in the book! I cannot express how truly crushing that feeling was. I think that was the root of my present cynicism about the world.

I wish I had a baby picture of myself reading like you learned lot -- but I think I spent most of my childhood in the swimming pool, till I discovered Trixie Belden!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I think that was the root of my present cynicism about the world.

LOL. Poor purrla. I'm sure your family was only trying to make you happy.

Did I miss out, never having read Trixie Belden books? I did devour Nancy Drew books for a couple of years....

[purridot.livejournal.com]

Trixie is the Anti-Drew! She is a tomboy who lives on a farm, has a rich best friend, and has quite a unique and vibrant personality (not as remote or severe as Nancy!). She is a dear.

I think I had devoured all the Nancy Drew books by the end of Grade 4. But she has stuck with me somehow, fused to my world view ;-)

I must pimp the Nancy Drew computer games. They are SO MUCH FUN! I even have Elynittria hooked!

[catilinarian.livejournal.com]

Awwwww! There's something so sweetly serious about your face there, even in sleep.

The first book I can actually remember being read was Blueberries for Sal, about two sisters going clamming and picking wild berries on Cape Cod. It was years later that my mother told me I'd actually spent a good chunk of my first year on the Cape, before it was a trendy summer retreat - back when a floor nurse and an impoverished lecturer could afford to rent a hut by the beach, with mice in the closets. (Remember, this is my mother telling the story. :)) I don't remember any of that time, but I had such an attachment to it because of the book that it felt strangely familiar when I went back as a teenager.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you grew up for a little while on the Cape. Neat.

We must have read Blueberries for Sal in elementary school, but I don't remember anything about it except possibly one picture of a field of blueberries. I do remember the cover; it had one of those silver or gold stars indicating a major children's literature award like the Newbery.

Apropos of very little, I had this weird dream in the middle of the night last night that I gave you a pen set in a box and you showed it to a former professor of mine (Prince -- I don't think you knew him), not knowing that I'd "re-gifted" it from what he'd given me, and he turned to me and said 'What a coincidence, that looks just like the one I gave you' and I blushed and tried to say that now we had matching sets but he totally didn't buy it, and, yeah.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Eee, photo! Awww :)

I don't think I have any baby photos of me reading, but the first book I actually remember reading was some Little Golden Book with photorealistic kittens peering up from behind a wall. I had billions of Little Golden Books - I often got 'bribed' with the promise of one for good behaviour XD

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, the days of being bribed with books.

Wait: that never really stopped. I'm still easy like that. *g*

We had a few Little Golden Books growing up, and one big thick compendium -- the one with Brer Rabbit, Tar Baby et al, and one about Hiawatha and Tiger Lily, and one about chipmunks or squirrels preparing for hibernation, and wow, I haven't thought of those in years.

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

I have exactly one photo of a younger me, and I've posted it at my LJ. Here's the link:

Photo (http://elynittria.livejournal.com/26841.html#cutid1)

Didn't have time to write a real memory, though. Maybe next year!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hey, deadlines come first. Here's to Round III.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Awww...

No pictures of me reading either. (I break cameras. Really.) I do remember taking photos of my little brother for a literacy poster project in grade school. Of course he's sneaking peeks at the TV while I'm taking the pictures...

[bironic.livejournal.com]

So that fine young frog in your icon is not you? *g*

Heh. I sympathize with your position there. My sister was infinitely more of a TV fan growing up than she was a reader, but a few choice recommendations over the years and she was won over enough to adopt some favorite authors and start digging into socio-political non-fiction. A job well done, eh? One of the only things better than converting someone to your fandom is converting them to reading in general.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Kermit is 51 years old now! But he's still way better looking than I am. :-)

Indeed, converting someone from the mindlessness of TV to the richness of reading is a job well done. (Funny I say that, considering how my current main fandom is TV-based, but anyway. *g*)

[hopegeeksout.livejournal.com]

That is an adorable picture!!! What year was it from? I'm trying to guess based on color quality, the reading material, and your clothes, but I suppose it's easier to ask. For the record, my guess is 1972 or so.

I was two in 1991, though, so it's not like my perspective's all that enlightened.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

It's a little later than 1971; I'm in my twenties now. That's all you're getting out of me. :)

Two years old in 1991! I still automatically assume that people born in the '90s are (small) children. How time does fly.

[hopegeeksout.livejournal.com]

Hahaha! I was born in 1989...I'm almost an adult! Enough to read and write H/W slash, anyway.

Thanks for saying it was later than 1971. I really did think of it as a riddle to figure out from the clues presented, but it's cool if you don't want to reveal your age, I get it!