Mommy's Piggy Tales: First Grade

This is my 3rd chapter in the Recording Your Youth project. I wrote about my birth here, and my preschool/kindergarten years here. A few things about my 6th year...

The most important part of my 1st grade year was the arrival of our final sibling. She made her arrival in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. (I think closer to the 23rd than the 25th, and Mom barely spent any time at the hospital so that she could be home for Christmas.)

During the births of Cary and Tracy, we (kids) would spend the night with our great aunt and uncle (Mert and Donald), who were like bonus parents or grandparents to us. We spent the night with them often, and we always slept on pallets (layers of folded blankets) on the floor. I have this memory flash of Dad standing in the doorway of the living room and telling us, "It's another girl." My brother, Matt, who was 9 at the time, yelled, "Nooo!!!" and put his head under a pillow. I actually don't know for certain if that was when Tracy was born - or Cary, but the memory is so clear, I am guessing Tracy. His fate as the only boy in a 4-kid family was sealed.

This is the earliest picture I have of Tracy, without having to dig, but I've written more about her here.
I wrote a lot of letters back and forth with my Aunt Patsy as I was growing up. Here are a couple she found that I copied. One thing I wrote: Tracy can sit up for about 4 seconds then she falls down.

Another one I wrote in the 1st grade: Everyone says I bet you could do highschool work. I was a pretty smart kid back then. If I can say that. Something happened around junior high, along the lines of boys and Sweet Valley High books, and I think I lost my direction.

For some reason, I also always wrote something like: You better come visit, or I'll beat you up!

I LOVED my first grade teacher, Mr. Stintzi. I think you typically love your elementary teacher. I loved most of mine. But he was definitely one of my favorites.

My brother, who also had him as a teacher, actually found him online about two years ago. We all shared a few emails back and forth, which was fun. My brother who is a school principal was inspired to contact him after a leadership conference. The lady asked them to write down the names of people who had inspired them in their lives. My brother included Mr. Stintzi's name in his list, and the lady said that the names we generally write down are the people who spent time with us and made us feel good about ourselves.

I was really shy back then, and he would spend time asking me questions, which is what was necessary to get me to speak. I sometimes crocheted at recess (I played a lot, too; I wasn't a total nerd!), and he would sit with me and talk. I remember him asking how I felt about getting ready to have a new brother or sister. He always played ball with the boys at recess, which is what my brother fondly remembers.

Here are a few keepsakes from my 1st grade year. I won 3rd place at Field Day in the Shuttle Run (I can't really remember what that is, but I do believe chalk board erasers were involved.) and Jump Rope. That's also one of the letters I received over the years after 1st grade from Mr. Stintzi. I was a total letter-writer back then, and he always wrote me back. I think that one is postmarked 1987, which would have been 6 years later. (I miss living in a town that only requires your name and city/state on a letter!)
This is a page from My Journal in 1st grade. There are three things that I like to do. I like to read and I like to cook because it's fun and I like to draw.

And then Mr. Stintzi wrote this. :)