Earliest Childhood Memories

Nothing is going on. I have nothing to blog. Anything you want to talk about?

Went to get a haircut yesterday. This girl was talking about getting her 15-month-old little boy a Leap Pad. (Is that anything like a Nintendo Power Pad? Those sure were fun.) Those seem to be popular. I don't remember any having any big educational-type toys when I was 1 or 2. The toys I remember having include the little round thing where you'd pull the string and it would make different sounds of various barnyard animals. What was that called? Then there was the always fun Sit & Spin, an Etch-a-Sketch, plastic Cowboys and Indians, Hot Wheels, Lite Brite, and Hungry Hungry Hippo. (OK, I never had that, but my neighbor did, and I always wanted it, but never got it.) Oh, and Shrinky Dinks. Can't forget those. I fondly remember sitting up at night, baking toys with my cousins. What better way for a child to spend his formative years.

The Leap Pad conversation got me to thinking about what kids comprehend, what they remember. I mean, sometimes you see parents of a six-month old get their kid this big, complex toy or something. I'm looking at it, and I'm thinking, I can barely even figure this thing out. It's almost like, "Well, he's two. We got him a set of Encyclopedia Britannica and a two-year subscription to the Wall Street Journal." Anyhow, that's not my point. My point is... I can't remember my point. So we'll just go with this. I began thinking about what my very first, earliest childhood memory was. Here are a few that came to mind:

- I vaguely have a memory of being somewhere in the dark (according to what I've been told, it was probably my aunt's basement) during the tornado outbreak of '74. The thing about this is, I don't see how I remember it. When I think about it, it seems like it wasn't that long ago, like something out of a movie, where several scenes flash before your eyes in a matter of seconds. And then I think maybe I'm not remembering it, but thinking I am because of stories I have been told about what happened. (Age: 1 year)
- I remember these two girls had babysat me and had been mean to me. So when my parents got home, their parents came to pick them up and they went and got in the car and I threw rocks at the car. They told on me, but I didn't get in trouble, because I told Mom and Dad they'd been mean to me. (Age: 2-3 years)
- I remember taking swimming lessons in preschool. Or I should say swimming lesson, singular. They made us put our heads under water. Water got up my nose. I cried. I never went back. And I didn't learn to swim until I was 12 :-) (Age: 3-4 years)
- And lastly, I remember somehow turning on the gas stove when there was a brown paper bag of collard greens sitting on it, setting them on fire, and causing the smoke alarm to go off, and we all had to go outside. What a little arsonist I was. (Age: 2-4 years)

It's fun to think about. What is your earliest memory of life?

"The other tear said, we've got a connection. I'm a tear of sorrow, born of rejection. I'm from the sad brown eyes of her old flame. She told him they would be lifelong companions. Left him with questions and not any answers. I was on his cheek as he stood there calling her name. I could tell he had a lot of my friends for company. So I drifted on down and caught me a ride to the sea..."