The Memory Book

Earliest Life

(We lived in a one story house in another state from the time of my birth until I was around 4 years old. This chapter is about memories in this time and place.)
This part may update as I remember and add things on.
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The very first memory I have was when I was two years old. I was holding the hand of Mamaw W, walking down a red and beige hospital hallway to meet my newborn baby sister. I had a Hello Kitty balloon for my mother, and I peered up from the side of the bed, barely able to see my mom's face. I don't remember actually meeting my sister, as the memory fades from there.
We lived in a one story house in another state from the time of my birth until I was around 4 years old. It was white at the time, and had a stone-walled garden by the front sidewalk. There were yellow roses in that garden. When we moved, I was wondering why we didn't bring the roses with us.

My little sister fell down the basement stairs once. My dad left the door open. She was crawling, and poof! Down she went. I was in my bedroom, using white liquid glue as some sort of puffy paint to draw a house on some green construction paper. I heard the banging and my mom freak out. She was fine, just a black eye. I hung up my "drawing" at some point after that, and the still-wet glue ran lines down the paper onto the fridge.

My oldest cousin tried to bathe me once while she was babysitting me. She ran a bath, put me in, and turned her back to grab the soap. I peed in the tub, and she looked so distressed as she pulled the plug and pulled me out to run the water again.

I remember going into the nursery once, when my sister was still a baby. I sat in the rocking chair and watched her sleep. The room was a muted white and grey, except for the crib and the chair, which were a dark wood. My mom found me watching her. I don't remember her reaction, just her shape in the doorway.

I remember the house layout fairly clearly. I don't know how to describe it with words, but I'm confident I could draw a diagram of it if asked.

I once ran out into the living room, fully naked, to inform my mother that I needed to use the bathroom. As she asked why I didn't just go myself, I started to pee, then raced down the hallway leaving a trail as I attempted to reach the bathroom. I don't believe I made it, nor do I think it mattered at that point whether I had or not.

One Christmas, we got a Dora kitchen set. It was incredible, I remember being so impressed at the time. That year I also got Chimpy, the toy that defined my childhood for many years, up until I was around 6-8 and cried when giving Chimpy away. He was a mechanical chimp that had a bottle, would react to it with suckling noises. If you tickled his feet he'd laugh. I loved the fuck out of that thing, so much so that the fur matted and one of the ears started to fall off. There's a photo in an album, of me, my sister, and Chimpy, all three of us buckled into our seats in the car.

I remember matching pajamas with my sister. We were wrestling, both wearing the same purple and pink striped glittery pj shirt. I think we were at Mamaw W's place for Christmas or a sleepover of some sort.

I remember my mother being young. She had braces for a while. When she got them off, I was sad, though I'm not sure why. I just don't think I liked change. I asked her when she'd get them put back on.

I remember my dad and his basement setup. He would play video games on his desk in the basement. He had his chair, and I had a child sized recliner I would set up beside him to watch. He played WoW, Skyrim, and some other stuff. I loved to watch, but the screen colors were distorted by my low angle, being a child sitting in a child recliner and all.

We had a cat named Katy. She was amazing, fluffy and white and lovable. I copied her and the dog (Charlie) a lot, crawled around on the floor with them and matched their every move. She would hide cat toys in my child recliner, little pink mice and stuff. We found eight in there years after she died.