Growing Up

 My first stuffed animal was a little giraffe, which I loved, but I had a large collection of stuffed animals and I didn't have a favorite. I remember lining them all up and playing school or zoo or other random games with them. I would always have a stuffed animal with me, wherever I toddled around the house.

 My favorite book when I was little was Stellaluna, a pretty picture book with lots of words about a bat who was raised by birds, trying to copy their ways. I would read it over and over to myself. When I was a little older, I really liked Ender's Game, The Hobbit, and the Harry Potter series. My dad would read books out loud to my brother and I when I was three or four. We would bug my dad to read more, more, more!! until he would, and if we got bored when he wasn't home from work yet we would take the book and read it ourselves. My favorite TV show when I was really little was Teletubbies, I have no idea why, and when I got older I liked Cyberchase. I don't know why. They're so weird. I guess I liked the bright colors...

 I don't really remember any of my firsts, because Thomas always seemed to get there ahead of me. I remember my first story I wrote with a plot, in kindergarten. I was so proud of myself. It was two pages long and I had an illustration to go with it. It was about a unicorn trying to find a place to sleep. It wasn't that great of a story. But at least the unicorn had a problem, tried to fix it, and ended up with some things that weren't her solution. The first time I rode a bike without training wheels was when I was nine. We didn't bike very much, and only when I protested that I still didn't know how did my dad teach me. I rode my bike around and around in our driveway, then went around Lake Artemesia with my dad.

I don't remember having a favorite birthday, most of them were fun little parties when I was little, then going down in frequency to every other year, when I was nine. My last birthday was fun because I got cute, thoughtful presents I really liked and had a quiet birthday where I just sort of stayed up in my room and read. The next day, I had a party where my friends walked home with me and we just sort of hung out, ate pizza, watched a movie, and roasted s'mores.