NOAH YATES
When I was born, I opened my eyes and looked around the hospital room. I was born curious. Everything was interesting to me. From drawing to electrical things to bugs to history - I liked them all!
When I was four months old, I liked to play with a rattle that had a sun in the middle and a rocket, a spaceman, and some other things around it. I would hold it with one hand and very carefully spin the sun with one of my fingers. When John was four months old, he played with the same rattle. John was a little rougher than me though. He would just shake the rattle a couple of times and throw it across the room!
Mommy and Daddy were happy when I started to talk. They liked my sing-song voice and funny words that I would say. I liked it when Mommy made “pancanks”. And one of my favorite toys was the “moo-moo” barn. I used to stuff my blanket (“nap-moo”) in the silo. The lady (“ay-dee”) and farmer (“hy-mee”) took care of the animals. I liked ladybugs (“dah-be-dahs”) and eating tortillas (“tah-tee-tahs”). One of my favorite stories was The Three Bears (with “mama bay, papa bay, and baby bay”).
I made many drawings. Each night when I prayed, I would thank God for the sun, the moon, the stars, the grass, the flowers, and the trees. I liked to draw them too. I especially liked to draw rainbows and butterflies.
After my little brother John was born, Oma brought me to the hospital to meet him. I went up to the bassinet where he was sleeping and peeked inside. I turned to Mommy and Daddy and asked, “Nap-moo?” They said, “No, John doesn’t have his own blanket yet.” So I loaned him my nap-moo. (Of course, before we left to go home, I got it back!)
I loved to swim. I used to see how many summersaults I could do underwater with one breath.
One time for Christmas, Grandma gave me a play lantern. When I pressed the button, it would make noises from crickets, owls, and a frog. Sometimes I’d go to sleep listening to the nature sounds.
I enjoyed beading, coloring, and rubber stamp art. I had some special butterfly markers that I’d use to draw flowers and butterflies for Mommy. I used the markers so much that they eventually dried out.
As I grew older, I liked to build things. One time, I built a house out of popsicle sticks and decorated it with Christmas lights. That was a lot of fun. I used the hot glue gun to build a small room. Then I added rooms to each side. Then I added a second story. Then I added a roof. Daddy gave me some battery-powered Christmas lights, and I put them all around the house. It was fun! I also built a neat cuckoo clock.
I liked playing with my brothers, and I liked playing by myself. Sometimes, I would go off by myself and draw or build something, and Mommy and Daddy would tell me how much they liked it. One time, I took the motor and gears out of a broken tape recorder, mounted them to a piece of wood, added an LED light, and added some batteries. Daddy didn’t help me at all, and he was very impressed when it all worked!
Mommy homeschooled John and me during the week. She taught us to read and do math. We would also go on field trips sometimes which was fun. When I was little, Mommy read a book about two ducks, Dibble and Dabble, to me. She read it to me so many times that I remembered all the words and read it back to her.
Sometimes, I would just play in the yard with my brothers. We would run, dig, ride, and throw. I liked to catch bugs. Mommy bought me a bug jar, and whenever I would catch a bug, I would put it in my bug jar and take it inside. Mommy was a little surprised when I caught a bee! I was always very gentle, and I didn’t hurt the bugs.
I loved hatching butterflies. My favorite butterfly is the Monarch butterfly. We had a milkweed plant in the yard, and we used to take small caterpillars off of its leaves and put them in a bug jar to hatch. The caterpillars would spin cacoons and turn into butterflies! My job was to provide fresh leaves for the caterpillars and to clean the poop out of the bug jar. That is all they did - eat and poop!
I also helped Mommy plant daffodil and tulip bulbs. I even planted a Zinnia seed and they all grew into beautiful flowers.
I had a placemat that had all the presidents on it. Daddy used to quiz me on it. One night, I asked him if I could watch the movie Air Bud again. He said it was bed time. I asked him to ask me a president question, and if I got it right, then I could watch the movie. He asked me when James Garfield was born, and I said, “James A. Garfield was born in 1831!” He let me watch the movie again!
Sometimes, I would watch the TV show “History IQ” and wait for a president question. Whenever they asked a president question, I would try to answer it. I usually got it right, except when they asked something that wasn’t on my placemat.
I liked to play basketball with Daddy. We would play horse together. I would get to shoot from half the distance that he shot. We had some good games. I liked to stand in front of the foul line and make it. Daddy would have to take a long shot, and he would usually miss it. Sometimes he would win though, and I would be unhappy. I guess I was pretty competitive.
I was interested in so many things, that I could have done anything when I grew up and been happy. I could have been a doctor, an entomologist, a florist, a triathlete, or an artist. Maybe I could have done them all!