It was 1994 when the 5 year old Cassie started Kindergarten. This is the point I really start having cognitive memories.
I went to Belvedere Elementary for grades K-5. Mrs. Burgess was my Kindergarten teacher and I was in her afternoon class. (We didn't go a full day.)
I started riding the bus to school. A boy who lived in my neighborhood came over to my house every morning to get on the bus with me. We never sat together because you know, boys had cooties. He did, however, sit in the seat across the aisle from me. One morning, I looked over at him right as he stuck his finger up his nose. Even though it was gross, it was one of those things you can't look away from. So I then watched him dig out a booger, look at it for about three seconds, and bite it off of his finger with his teeth. It was a truly disgusting moment.
My teacher taught us the days of the week and the months of the year through song. I remember sitting on the floor facing the chalkboard corner the first time we heard the song. She had posters above the chalkboard with the names of the days and months on it. Mrs. Burgess would point to the corresponding word when we sang it out. I still remember the song.
For some reason, all of my memories from actually being in the classroom are very dark; not scary or evil, dark as in there was very little light. I am not sure why it was this way, but that is a major description for every classroom story I have. Weird. Maybe it was the beginning of the downfall of my eyesight. It's quite possible.
This is the year I was introduced to the punishment system that hangs on the wall. I believe it was an apple with our name on it that we had to move if we got in trouble. And no, I never had to move my apple. I was terrified to get in trouble so I, of course, stayed quiet and well behaved.
I remember my first fire drill at the school. We had just come in from playing outside and were in line to wash our hands. The teacher's aid squirted liquid soap into my hands and as soon as I had begun to lather it up, the alarm went off. We were immediately lined up and led out of our back door onto the playground by the fence. I just stood there looking at my hands and the drying, sticky soap on them and thought to myself how gross it felt. I wanted so badly to get my hands under some running water. We were out there for quite a while so when we finally went back in, my hands had a thick coat of now dirty and waxy soap.
We had a small "library" in our room, which I loved. During free time, I would always read (or pretend to read) a book. Our teacher even allowed us to check out a book if we wanted to take it home. One day, I checked out Casey at the Bat and took it home with me. I somehow went weeks without bringing it back in. Mrs. Burgess never asked me about it even though my name was written down on her "books checked out" list. Finally, it was the end of the school year and I still had Casey at the Bat sitting in my room. To this day, I have never given it back.
Now, during these Wonder Years posts, I may not be able to remember the specific year for a particular event or whatever I happen to be talking about, so I will probably throw in things that happened around that particular phase in my life.
With that said, I must confess that Winnie the Pooh was my absolute favorite thing in the world when I was little. I started collecting stuffed animals before I can even remember. I seriously have tons of Pooh Bears... they are sitting in a bag in the basement at my house right now. I even have this one bear that is huge.. bigger than I was when I got him; he was a gift from my Nana and Pawpaw. I usually don't like to play favorites, but I have two bears that were always my favorite (I even gave them nicknames): my very first Pooh Bear was nicknamed Tiger Lily (like the indian girl from Peter Pan) and my other favorite was nicknamed Rough (because he infact was rougher in texture than the others). This all probably sounds silly to you, but Pooh was a big part of my childhood. I would watch the cartoon when I could, and I would play the part of Pooh while Ash was Tigger and Blakeley was Piglet. My collection of Poohs would be my audience when I needed one and my children when I played "house". I had some good times with the little guy.
Movies seen in theater: 10
DvDs bought: 47
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