(*dc) morning stories

my mom woke me up with a call this morning (i still haven't quite turned my phone off) to tell me that she'd been lying in bed, giggling and smiling, thinking of things i did when i was little. now she's giving me more details:

kelly snook
10:23
tell me some of the things you were remembering

Terry
10:24
Oh, so many things. Like, do you remember when you were three and you and I sat down with our violins in front of the stereo cabinet and went through the Suzuki record, both sides, with you learning all the songs in one sitting?
kelly snook
10:24
hah! no!

Terry 10:25
Then after you got bored with that, you placed two of my fingers on the fingerboard on my violin, then you played two fingers on your violin, and instructed me when to play. We played four note chord progressions. It was a magical, amazing moment that only I got to witness. You were only three! And the chord progressions made sense!

kelly snook 10:25
aww. i wish i could remember!

Terry
10:26
That was when I knew you were really, really special and I needed to provide you with a musical outlet in your life as a priority.
kelly snook
10:26
i wish i could remember to do the same.

Terry 10:27
Then, I was remembering you running in from outside as fast as you could to get to the little electronic keyboard we had and taking two fingers on each chubby little 2 year old hand and duplicating the diminished 7th chord the train whistle was blowing.

kelly snook
10:28
what kind of electronic keyboard did we have?

Terry 10:28
You would then stand by the keyboard, reaching up (cause you were really little) and start playing your nursery rhymes with one darling little chubby finger. It didn't matter whether you started on a white key or a black key. you always got the songs right. You knew what the intervals needed to be.

kelly snook 10:28
:)

Terry 10:28
Oh, something Gary got..way before Yamaha got big. Some old-fashioned cloth covered thing that you ripped off when you found a tear in the cover.

kelly snook
10:29
oof. it was probably a rhodes or a wurly. dang. i wish we still had it.
daddy probably sold it to get the piano.
those "old-fashioned cloth covered things" are awesome.
!!!
we pay big bucks for those now.

Terry 10:29
Then, I remember you leaning over the stair rail while Gary played guitar under you, and we were all singing your nursery rhymes. You were so delighted by the activity, and so exicted, that every time we got done, you would say "What shall we sing?"

kelly snook
10:30
that must be one reason i'm so nostalgic about them!
yeah! we have THAT on tape!

Terry 10:30
Nope, I bought you the piano. He took it on the road with him. Probably sold it though.

kelly snook
10:30
yeah

Terry
10:30
Right.
I'm glad we have that on tape.
kelly snook
10:30
me too

Terry
10:31
Then, I will never forget your breathless excitement when you came running into the kitched from the yard one summer day with your baby doll whose hair was so worn off it was only stubs. You raced in to show me, yelling,
"By golly, mom, it's growin'!?
kelly snook
10:32

i kind of remember that one.
but it might be because you immortalized it in my baby book right away

Terry
10:32
Then there was the time Stephanie was brought home from the hospital, and put on the couch in the infant seat. You were mesmerized and hyptonized by here.
hypnotized by her, especially her mouth and nostrils.
kelly snook
10:32
yeah. let the traumatizing begin.
muaaaaaa haa a haaaaaaaa

Terry
10:33
I couldn't keep you from putting things in them.
kelly snook
10:33
well they were such perfect little targets.

Terry
10:34
And, there was the day Stephanie was 1.5 and she was standing at the round coffee table playing with the Fisher Price and Playschool houses and people, and you walked by, did a double-take, stopped and stared for awhile, then said, "So THAT's what those are for!?"
kelly snook
10:34
haaahaaahaaaaaaaa

Terry
10:35
And, you and I would sit on the porch swing for hours on the screened in porch and sing and sing and sing. You loved that. You loved practicing My Fair lady. We'd drive in the car, and you would sit in the back in your car seat , slowly and carefully practicing those four notes at the end of the song until you had the intervals perfect.
Let's see, I remember when you were born, about 6 weeks old. I got my first point and shoot camera, and I spent 4 hours dressing you in every outfit you had and taking pictures of you. The only one I could get of you smiling was when you were completely naked on the changing table.
You were so serious. Like a little old lady locked inside a tiny baby's body.
I doted on you. I loved you so much, I couldn't stand it. So much so, that I felt it probaly wasn't good for you to be the target of that much love and attention. So, I decided to have another baby to kind of moderate things.
And of course, there was all the huffing and grunting coming from upstairs before Stephanie was born. I went to the bottom of the stairs and witnessed that you had moved all the furniture off your room-sized braided rug, rolled it up, and dragged it out of your room until it got stuck on the carpeting at the top of the landing.
I guess this morning was a special waking to memories of Kelly morning. Anyway, it all brought smiles to my face, and even laughter at times, and I enjoyed it. and I wanted to share it with you...see if you remembered any of it.
You were so cute, and adorable, and perfect.

kelly snook
10:40
i do remember the carpet thing
i remember it as though i were 12

Terry
10:40
You were less than 2.
kelly snook
10:40


Terry
10:41
You were so resourceful and creative. There was nothing that could keep you from doing something if you wanted to.
Especially not me.

I had to use psychological tactics to get you to do things I wanted you to do..like make you think YOU were the one who wanted to get out of the car seat and go into the house, not me. Otherwise, you would refuse to go.

And, I couldn't pick you up.

kelly snook
10:42
Why not?

Terry
10:42
30 minutes you and I spent by the trash can in my room, you taking stuff out, me saying no and putting it back and taking your hands away. Dr. Spock vowed it would work. I gave up eventually, and you won.
I moved the trash can out of your reach instead.
kelly snook
10:43
Good thinking

Terry
10:43
I was pregnant with Stephanie and had had major abdominal surgery. I couldn't even climb the stairs.
That's really hard with a toddler.
kelly snook
10:44
Ouch. Sorry.

Terry
10:44
Not your fault.

kelly snook
10:44
Well, those are some sweet memories. You're lucky to have them.
Would have been nice to continue getting all that attention, though.
:)

Terry
10:46
Oh, I gave you that much attention after Stephanie was born. She required nothing, and since I nursed her, nothing about our relationship had to change. And once Stephanie was big enought to interact with you, you had a busom buddy to play with.