School Days Timelines: Second Grade

*So, a long time ago, I started blogging through my school days.  I am starting again. In case you missed them, other timelines are Preschool one and two, kindergarten and first grade.*

Second grade is fun, mostly because my teacher is nice.  Her name is Mrs. Hamel, and while I don’t remember much about her as a person, I do remember all of the fun things we did.  Mrs. Hamel was all about plays.  There was the Christmas play, when I was cast as the Sunshine, which I really loved.  We also did some sort of play about nutrition, where students dressed up like different foods.  I was the narrator and wore some odd hat-like thing.  We did a lesson about animals that lived in the ocean, and my mom and I carefully constructed a jellyfish out of blue raspberry jelly and other odds and ends.  I don’t know if I’ve ever been so proud of a project in my life, still.

In second grade, I also became friends with my good friend, Dina, who is still one of my closest friends today.  I remember going over to her house and watching “Growing Pains” while echoing a popular commercial at the time and crying out “We have Seaver Fever!”  We had a lot of fun together that year.

A boy in my class that year had a crush on me.  His name was Cale Nichols and he was weird.  Cale demonstrated his affections for me by giving me things like Canadian coins and carrot sticks.  I remember being both flattered and embarrassed: I know I didn’t like him back, but that Canadian coin was pretty darn cool.

For my birthday that year, I hosted my first SLEEPOVER party.  It was really fun, minus the part when we watched the movie version of Roald Dahl’s book The Witches and SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF MYSELF.  Seriously, I slept in my brother’s room for like a year afterwards, THAT’S HOW SCARY IT WAS.  I also distinctly remember throwing up in the middle of the night, while all of my friends slept, sick with excitement and too many snacks.

The most memorable thing about second grade was actually a stuffed dinosaur named Figment.  All of us got to take Figment home for a weekend and write about our adventures with him.  Even though I was SEVEN and surely knew that it was just a stuffed animal, I was GLORIOUSLY excited about taking Figment home for my weekend and writing my story about our weekend together.

And, because I love you, here are a few photos.  Please note: the mullet, the terrible turtleneck, the purple leggings, the vest, the crooked teeth which aren’t visible, but use your imagination.  Also?  How awesome is my mom?  My entire childhood is scrapbooked, with notes and stickers and photos, all ready to be shared with you, Internet.  But seriously, I have albums of my formative years, and they are among my most treasured possessions.