![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
For Dominic - My Baby Book
Oct. 30th, 2012 03:34 pmSomeone once told me that I was supposed to be named Ruth, but when I was born my parents noticed that all of their other children had names that started with A and they worried I would feel out of place if mine started with an R. I asked Grams if that was true and she looked disgusted. "Ruth? Why would I name you Ruth?" I dunno. It doesn't seem that bad to me. At least most people can spell it and pronounce it. In any case, I was named Annissa, which seemed like such a baby name when I was little, but now seems so big for a little girl. My parents got the name Anissa from our next door neighbor, but Grams added a second n for symmetry. My middle name, Laine, is still causing controversy to this day. Your Great Aunt Jan (grandpa Alan's sister) and your Great Aunt Jean (Gram's sister) both had the middle name Elaine. It's tradition in our family to use middle names as namesakes, so Grams decided Elaine's time had come and bestowed it upon me, but dropped the E to make my name "flow better." A year later with my cousin Rachael was born, Aunt Jean changed Gram's middle name, Kristine, to Christine. When Grams pointed out that Aunt Jean had misspelled her name, Aunt Jean shouted at her, "You dropped the E!" A few years ago, Rachael had a baby girl and named her, you guessed it, "Christine." Grams is now pushing any of her children to have a baby girl named "Laine." I can't help but feel none of this would have happened if they'd gone with "Ruth."
I was a large baby: 10 lbs, 13 oz. That seems to have skipped a generation as you were significantly smaller, thank goodness. Grams said I cried for three days straight after I was born. She took me to a chiropractor who adjusted my spine, and afterward I slept for 24 hours straight. I should note here that you can't take everything Grams says seriously. She tends to exaggerate. It was also at this time that I came down with chicken pox, my first illness. It was a mild case - I had only three spots - and I was pretty smut about that until I contracted Shingles in my early twenties.
When I was little, I thought Grams was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was kind and soft and smelled nice. She had these little faceted iridescent earrings that I loved until I knocked one out of her ear one day when she was getting me out of our old VW bus. She never did find it and I still feel bad about that. She used to take Aunt Afton and me to the little grocery store in Genesee after my half-day Kindergarten and let us pick out what we wanted to eat. Usually, it was Spaghettios or a t.v. dinner. Grams had light brown hair, which she liked to call blonde, but wasn't really. Sometimes, Grandpa would help her put blonde streaks in it and I loved watching how it was done.
Grandpa has been bald for as long as I've known him. I used to draw him with black lines on either side of his head to represent his hair. He always "corrected" my drawings to give himself a full head of hair, which always made me laugh. Grandpa also used to "correct" the drawings of the men on the covers of Grams' novels. Poor Fabio never had the facial hair Grandpa thought he did. I loved watching Grandpa chop firewood. He would line each of the logs up in a circle all the way around him and chop each log with a single swing. Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! all in a row. He looked like Superman to me.
When I was small, Grandpa and Grams were very affectionate and it wasn't unusual for your aunts, uncles, and me to find them kissing on the couch. It was gross. One year, Grandpa set up an elaborate scavenger hunt for grams, leaving clues all over the house and out in the garage. Grams eventually found a pair of diamond earrings in a box of cereal. I felt slightly less bad about her other earrings that day.
In my earliest memories, Grandpa and Grams were in college. Sometimes Grams would take me to class with her. Sometimes I feel sad that I'm in class rather than with you at home or doing something fun, but other times I feel good knowing that your experiences with me are so similar to the experiences I had with Grams. I loved going to class with her and I hope you look back fondly at your time in my college classes.
I was a large baby: 10 lbs, 13 oz. That seems to have skipped a generation as you were significantly smaller, thank goodness. Grams said I cried for three days straight after I was born. She took me to a chiropractor who adjusted my spine, and afterward I slept for 24 hours straight. I should note here that you can't take everything Grams says seriously. She tends to exaggerate. It was also at this time that I came down with chicken pox, my first illness. It was a mild case - I had only three spots - and I was pretty smut about that until I contracted Shingles in my early twenties.
When I was little, I thought Grams was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was kind and soft and smelled nice. She had these little faceted iridescent earrings that I loved until I knocked one out of her ear one day when she was getting me out of our old VW bus. She never did find it and I still feel bad about that. She used to take Aunt Afton and me to the little grocery store in Genesee after my half-day Kindergarten and let us pick out what we wanted to eat. Usually, it was Spaghettios or a t.v. dinner. Grams had light brown hair, which she liked to call blonde, but wasn't really. Sometimes, Grandpa would help her put blonde streaks in it and I loved watching how it was done.
Grandpa has been bald for as long as I've known him. I used to draw him with black lines on either side of his head to represent his hair. He always "corrected" my drawings to give himself a full head of hair, which always made me laugh. Grandpa also used to "correct" the drawings of the men on the covers of Grams' novels. Poor Fabio never had the facial hair Grandpa thought he did. I loved watching Grandpa chop firewood. He would line each of the logs up in a circle all the way around him and chop each log with a single swing. Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! all in a row. He looked like Superman to me.
When I was small, Grandpa and Grams were very affectionate and it wasn't unusual for your aunts, uncles, and me to find them kissing on the couch. It was gross. One year, Grandpa set up an elaborate scavenger hunt for grams, leaving clues all over the house and out in the garage. Grams eventually found a pair of diamond earrings in a box of cereal. I felt slightly less bad about her other earrings that day.
In my earliest memories, Grandpa and Grams were in college. Sometimes Grams would take me to class with her. Sometimes I feel sad that I'm in class rather than with you at home or doing something fun, but other times I feel good knowing that your experiences with me are so similar to the experiences I had with Grams. I loved going to class with her and I hope you look back fondly at your time in my college classes.