Monday, January 4, 2021

Do You Remember Me?

March 2017, Two months old


For as much as I'm able to see aspects of myself in my children, one thing I recognize is that my second oldest daughter is me when I was a child.  I'm not referring to looks or physical qualities, although we reflect similar features coming from both sides of my family more so than my other two.  What I'm talking about here, though, is that her intangible, cognitive/emotional/social qualities are not very different from mine when I was very young and in some ways even still today.    She embodies so much of what I remember about myself--those things that made me somewhat of a funny, awkward child.  

For one, the girl can talk.  She makes my head spin at times with the volume of conversations that she's ready to have all day long into the night.  This was me. I recall my mama saying on numerous occasions that I was a talker and, quite frankly, that I talked too much! I still catch myself doing it at times (even in my writing) and also having conversations within conversations when I'm talking to a person, usually my mom or husband.  My little one does the same.  I also think, like her mama, she will be the one who enjoys writing.  She's definitely got a way with words and grammar.  







I can also be pretty goofy and have been so as far back as I can recall.   My girl has it honest.  She is ready to crack up laughing--and fall out with it, too--at whatever she finds to be the least bit humorous. And I'm talking about crying laughing.  I often get a good laugh just seeing her laugh.   

She can also be sort of clumsy, yet clumsy may not even be the right descriptor.  It's something like going at things in a roundabout, disorganized, almost nonsensical fashion that can lead to whatever it is she was attempting to do being done ...clumsily.  Ha!  That was and still is me at times!  All I can do is shake me head.

I can think of a few other ways in which this child is me, but the one characteristic, that really stood out to me over the past year as she's grown more into her personality is how literal-minded she is.  She listens intently, and there are times when what she hears isn't meant to be a literal representation of what is being said, yet she takes it that way.  This cognitive trait translates in many ways for her and sometimes causes her worry or sincere concern.  Then, when she brings up what she might have heard me or her dad say, we'll have to explain that whatever it is we were saying isn't literally gonna happen.  This was me as a child, to a T.  

My baby recently turned four-years-old, and every day it's like--through her very existence and in those moments when I'm on her case about being too silly or talking more than I feel is necessary--she's asking me, "Don't you remember me?"  And I do.  I really do.  




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Oh! Although I stated earlier that physical attributes aren't the subject of the post, she's the only one of my three who's got the inward-pointing "pigeon toes" that I had for a long time as a child.

I'm hoping that 4 means fewer instances of putting shoes on the wrong feet and being adamant about keeping them that way!

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