first ever memories…

I have been watching little boss very closely as she looks at the world around her and tries to figure stuff out and it got me thinking how cool it would be if you could remember this time in your life…when you had no idea what a tree was you just loved to watch it as the branches and leaves swayed in the wind or when you had no idea how to use your face so you concentrated really hard on what other people did with theirs and then practised until you got it right but still really having no idea what the hell you were doing. after all this learning you get to have a big sleep and when you wake up do it all over again. this is the life of little boss. and we get to live vicariously through her. when we go for our early morning walk she stares with such fierce concentration at the big gum tree branches that are moving around high above her…actually the look on her face could be one of concern given the size of those branches and the high wind we get here. but whatever she is looking at she makes me want to look at because the look on her face means it must be worth looking at. I didn’t know that there was some beautiful jasmine growing over our fence from next door until little boss was looking up at it and laughing as it bobbed back and forth and I also wasnt aware of how fascinating the sunlight reflecting off the pool onto the ceiling in her bedroom could be until I lay down next to her to watch it. I wonder what her first memories will be…I think the older we get the more our memories tend to be determined by what we saw in photographs rather than our actual memories. I can remember the gas water heater in my grandparents house and the shower rose that was the size of a dinner plate, the feeling of being hugged by my grandmother when she was quite chubby and wearing a coat that made my face feel itchy, I can clearly remember trying to mimic my cousins smile in a school photo from year 2 and lets just say I failed. I have some really great memories of the stuff my brother and I used to do – or more accurately, stuff I used to make him do…I remember our houses that we lived in and in my mind they are all enormous – they weren’t but that’s just how I remember it. I remember when aunty fran dared me to up-end the salad bowl on uncle johns head and my mum telling me not to do it – even though I really wanted to! – so aunty fran did it, and as we all sat around their dining table uncle john continued his conversation with bits of lettuce, cucumber and tomato mixed with dressing rolling down his sizable belly…he only stopped talking to stuff some salad in his mouth ohhh good times people, good times. wouldn’t it be great if you could remember the first time you used your senses. not like in the womb senses,  out in the big bad world what the hell are you feeding me now mum, memories. that would be a riot. my mother in law says Mr B Badger.com’s first word was more…he liked his food that much. and they were veges…not sure what happened because I can’t even disguise veges by chopping them into miniscule pieces without him finding them. little boss certainly lets us know when she likes something by hanging out her tongue far enough to rival MrRooben and kicking her legs and slamming her palms on the high chair okay okay we get it you love pumpkin…and carrot and sweet potato. turns out that the only DNA transfer from me so far is a love of the colour orange. if I want her to experience something other than these three foods I have to blend it in with one of them and I have to say apple and pumpkin is a nice blend, here’s hoping that as she grows up she will still have a love of veges and the outdoors….