Escape from Napcatraz

[cosmolinguist]

It's never been sticks or stones that've broken my bones.

I did it myself.

My childhood was before camcorders were readily available, but there is a cassette recording of me and my dad talking when I was a toddler. He played it for me once -- probably when I was a teenager, and even then it was old and brittle and required the ministrations of his tape-splicing kit, with its special tape and special knife and everything. It was a fragile treasure, and I won't be surprised if I never get to hear it again (I think of stuff like this when my friends post youtube videos of their kids; this is another kind of scarcity which my generation is the last to experience).

My memories of it are fragile and broken too, but the thing I remember best is how often I said, in this conversation with my daddy, "I do it!"

I do it myself.

It verifies all those stories I have been told about what an independent child I was.

So I broke my arm climbing out of my crib when I was put there for a nap.

I wasn't gonna have no nap!

I apparently didn't even cry much, or visibly look hurt, because my mom and dad didn't think anything was wrong with me. I went through the rest of a busy toddler day (including lifting weights with my dad) before my arm swelled up at suppertime and my parents freaked out and took me to the hospital.

I'm kind of impressed at this as I am not such a bold person these days. This happened when I was too young to have any memories of it, but I like to think this has helped make me the person I am.

Comments

[basric.livejournal.com]

Well done.

[cosmolinguist]

Thank you :) I enjoyed writing this.

[liret.livejournal.com]

I always think that if I'm going to end up in a mess - or a cast - at least I should have the satisfaction of knowing I did it to my own self.

[cosmolinguist]

The other time I broke a bone I did it in a much less glamorous or life-affirming way, so doing it to myself was less of a consolation then :)

[haggis.livejournal.com]

*grin* I really like this.

(BTW, there's a typo, you misspelled independent.)

[cosmolinguist]

My eyes are very bad at catching typos lately. I am disappointed in them.

[stacieann15.livejournal.com]

I love the discussion of the scarcity of memories -- the fragile treasure of your cassette.

[cosmolinguist]

I remember what it looked like better than I remember anything on it. Brains are funny things, aren't they?

[cosmolinguist]

My oldest memory is also of being in that crib :) I remember having a dream about being at my grandparents, but I didn't really understand it was a dream at the time; I just knew I woke up and was suddenly no longer at my grandparents but in my own bedroom, and I cried with the disappointment.

[pixiebelle.livejournal.com]

I'm still that way about saying "I do it!" and I often wonder how I haven't hurt myself yet. I'm an independent girl! Nice take on the topic :)

[cosmolinguist]

Well like you I think, I realized there'd be a lot of bleak and heavy stuff and wanted to try to do something else :)

[nodressrehersal.livejournal.com]

I'd love to hear a tape of me when I was little - we have photos, but no audio or even home movies.

[cosmolinguist]

There is actually a video of us not much older too, from when my godparents and their kids were visiting. My godfather had one of those huge cameras you actually just put the VHS tapes straight into. And there's all kinds of videos of stuff my parents think is stupid and boring -- my brother sitting on the bathroom counter to reach the faucet when he's brushing his teeth, a bunch of kids no older than six playing baseball in our yard, my dad walking along the edge of a field -- but I found it absolutely transfixing even watching it at the time.

Again I haven't seen it in years, am not sure it'd even work any more, and would probably find it hard to watch my brother on it now anyway, but it's such a nice thing to have had.

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

We have old Super-8 movies...what a tough baby you were!

[cosmolinguist]

I know! It's pretty crazy really. My parents were normally very overprotective of me -- because I was blind -- so I don't think I had many chances for adventures like this :)

[myrna-bird.livejournal.com]

So typical of that age of development, learning to be independent. Sorry you broke your arm though!

[cosmolinguist]

i don't remember it at all (but I used to hear this story a lot! as well as the one about me screaming so much when my parents tried to get me to try on a winter coat that people looked at them like they were abusing me, which was when I was about the same age) so it doesn't seem to have left any emotional scars at least!

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

My middle daughter is horrendously independent. She wouldn't even let you feed her as a baby. Fortunately she has no broken bones (yet) but I have to constantly reassure myself that it'll serve her in good stead when she's an adult.

[cosmolinguist]

Aw, that does sound like it'd be rough. I know I drove my mom to distraction a lot when I was a kid (and they were always so worried I would hurt myself on account of the blindness).

[shadowwolf13]

Independence is a valuable trait.

[cosmolinguist]

I have ended up being quite different from my family-of-origin and the rural community in which I grew up, and I do think I have this stubborn independence to thank for being able to diverge from them...something for which I am (in most respects) very grateful!

[karmasoup.livejournal.com]

Okay, 1300 extra points for this title ALONE, and bonus for the really cute visual and audio imagery! (Not laughing at the pain, of course, but, still... very aw! inspiring! ;)

[cosmolinguist]

Heh, thanks so much! I thought the title was just silly but one of my friends really liked it too so what do I know? :)

And as I said above, the pain was quickly forgotten and doesn't seem to have done me any harm, where the story has brought me (and my mom who keeps telling it to me) a bunch of smiles, now that it is safely in the past.

[lawchicky.livejournal.com]

Awww- both of my older kids climbed out of their crib at some point and I'm thankful they didn't break any bones!

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

My daughter started saying 'no!' to sometimes mean 'ok but I do it' a month or two before she turned 2. I was very grateful that after just a few weeks she figured out how to say 'self!' to mean that and keep 'no' to just one meaning. These days (nearly 26 months) she says 'I do it!' or 'I help!'.

But then even when she was a baby, I got the impression that she had very definite opinions about things.