family stories: me

As a Christmas gift in 1996, my eldest sister compiled family stories that my mother wrote of each of her eleven children into binders for every member of my family. This wasn't an easy task and I love reading all the sometimes silly, sometimes sweet, sometimes touching stories that were captured by my mother's busy, but thoughtful hand. I'm so grateful that she kept a record of these things when we were young and I'm trying to do the same for the stories of my childrens' lives.

me at age 3

As I was reading through some of these the other day I found myself chuckling over many of the little things I did and said as a child. It's amazing how my personality as an adult shows similarities to how I was as a child. These are just a few of my favorites:

Seven Months: "Elizabeth gets very excited easily. She kicks her legs and flaps her arms like she wants to fly when I'm holding her and she gets excited about something. She is very pleasant and loves to have people talk to her. I'm very sad about having to quit nursing her this month so we can go to England. It's going to be hard to leave her for ten days and I cry a lot just thinking about it. Diane is excited about taking care of her while we are gone so she will give her a lot of love. We all think that Elizabeth will be good at dancing because she is always pointing her toes. She is very active and acts like she would get up and dance if she could walk. She comes alive to music and keeps the beat. She also sang the very note that Helena was tuning on her violin the other day,. She tried another note and Elizabeth cooed that one also. We think she has some wonderful talents! Stephen loves Elizabeth and calls her his little 'cutie doll'!"

I love this one because William is about this age right now and I can relate to my mom's feelings about nursing and leaving me to go on vacation. I would cry too! Also, Diane and Helena are two of my older sisters and Stephen is one of my brothers who is three years older than me. I should mention though that the prediciton that I would be a dancer was sadly, and incredibly, wrong.

22 Months: "Elizabeth loves to entertain,. She sings 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star', 'Old MacDonald' and 'Pitter Pat' and more. She tries every new word she hears. Stephen taught her to say 'dummy' which is one word she never forgets and uses very often, much to our embarrassment.

23 Months: "Elizabeth woke up early this morning and called out for someone to get her out of her crib. She called 'Debbie' about ten times, then 'Helena'. Finally she said in disgust, 'Dummy!'"

3 Years: "I was back-coming my hair and Elizabeth was watching. She didn't want to hurt my feelings by saying my hair was ugly so she said, 'Your hair looks so not beautiful!'"

3 1/2 Years: "I put some soup in the crock pot before church so it would be warm when we got home. Elizabeth's Sunday School teacher said Liz got worried during class because she was afraid church was going too long and the soup would burn!"

3 1/2 Years: "Elizabeth wanted to help me peel some potatoes that were starting to sprout. She pulled one out of the bag and said, 'These potatoes are really weird! They all have horns on them!'"

4 Years (as told by my oldest sister, Debbie): "Today mother told Liz that she must take a nap. She came to me and asked me if I was going to take a nap. I said, 'Yes! I love to take naps!' and asked her if she would like to take a nap with me. She emphatically said, 'No!' As I prepared to take a nap she changed her mind and with big eyes said, 'Let's get a blanket and snuggle!'"

5 Years: "When Elizabeth heard that Diane had a sonogram and they could tell she was going to have a boy, she wanted to know how. I told her that a sonogram was like a picture and they could see that it was a boy. She thought about it for a minute and then smiled and said, 'But they can't tell if it's a boy!' I said, 'Why not?' and she said, 'Because girl babies don't have long hair when they are born so they won't know if it is a boy or a girl!'"