When I woke up, the day was cloudy and still a bit damp. Since then, the sun has arrived and the sky is now a beautiful blue. It’s a still day, not a leaf moves. The humidity hasn’t yet disappeared, but last night I actually felt a breeze and slept without the air conditioning. I haven’t been out much lately so today I’m going to grab my camera and take a ride.
I have a baby book my mother kept. It is from The Children’s Corner, the same store where I used to buy my Trixie Belden books when I was eleven. My mother was faithful in filling out the pages. I know the doctor and the nurses and, according to my mother, I was very cute at birth. I don’t doubt her. At six months, I got the measles. Come to find out, back then I liked beets. I crept at seven months and walked at ten. I started talking early and by two was asking questions which is also when I finished potty training. My mother noted her technique was, “Keep asking her and putting her on.” My favorite books were Little Red Riding Hood and Chicken Little. Even back then I liked stories with a bit of action and a few scares. My baby book ends with a couple of comments about my first and second grades. My mother thought me quite the smart little girl.
Most pages in my book are filled, and the family album had picture after picture of me. I was her first so my mother wanted to chronicle everything. My brother came 16 months later. He got a book too and lots of pictures except I’m in many of them. Sharing my parents had already begun.
My sister Sheila came five years later. We found what we figured was her baby book when we were cleaning my mother’s house. It is the back of an envelope on which is written a few random observations. That’s it. Nothing else. My sister Maureen, the youngest, has nothing, not even an envelope.
Being the oldest did give me a few advantages. I know I could put on my own shoes by the time I was two, and I was always cute.
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