Random Childhood Memories

There's a lot of things from my early childhood I have some recollection of. Some of it's just random little things, and others are more specific. Today's post will be about some of the stuff I recall from the early years of my life.

'Stanley', one of my favorite TV shows when I was little. I mean, the kid's pets could talk, and he had a magic book that let him meet wild animals and learn about them.

Sleeping in a Crib

Odd as it may sound to some, I have memories of being in a crib in my parents' room. I recall my mother turning on the radio so I could hear music as I went to sleep. And I remember once waking up in the middle of the night, standing up in my crib, and being disappointed that the radio wasn't playing any more.

Blockbuster

Ah, the days of going to a video rental place and browsing the shelves for a movie or TV show to watch. I enjoyed trips to Blockbuster, since it meant getting new stuff to watch. I also remember the place having a specific smell, the scent of Blockbuster. At the time, Pokémon was becoming popular, and I would watch the show when it aired. And when we went to Blockbuster, I would often get VHS tapes of Pokémon episodes.

Elmo in Grouchland

I watched a fair bit of 'Sesame Street' when I was young, and one day my parents got me the movie 'Elmo in Grouchland' to watch. There was one scene where Elmo was travelling somewhere on a plane. A man, who apparently was rather mean-spirited, snatched Elmo's blanket from him.

Upon seeing Elmo's precious blanket stolen, I started crying and ran out of the room. I refused to see the rest of the movie.

Video Games

I was introduced to video games through the Nintendo Entertainment System. 'Kirby's Adventure' was one of my favorite games, and I would play it over and over. I always had trouble with the last few bosses, though, at which point I would recruit my brother to help by defeating them for me.

There were also the 'Mario' games, including 'Super Mario Bros. 3'. I sometimes played by myself, and sometimes did two-player with a family member. I always wanted to choose Luigi when doing two-player. It took me a long time before I could figure out how to make the characters fly, and admired how Mom seemed to do it with such ease.

And then there was the original 'Dragon Warrior', which I started playing. I defeated slimes and drakees, and eventually progressed to the harder regions, Never got around to finishing the playthrough, though. I got stuck towards the end, trying to get strong enough to face the Dragonlord and figure out how to navigate the castle.

Computer Games

It was around the late 90s to early 2000s, so our PC was probably Windows 98. We had 'Hoyle Card Games' and 'Hoyle Board Games', and I would play games like Checkers, Snakes and Ladders, and Go Fish. Sometimes I played against the computer, and occasionally I would play against myself. You could sign in as different players, perfect if multiple people used the same computer, and I had created a few different characters.

I also had a 'Toy Story' game which had a few mini-games, such as driving the RC car while avoiding the dog chasing after you. And another game with Spot, a character from children's picture books, which had a beach theme. There was one part where you could make a sand castle, which I always looked forward to.

Along with those, there was a game called 'Crayola: Favorite Places', which was basically like a coloring book on the computer. The pictures looked like your typical coloring book pages, but when you added the color, it became 3D. There were options to use a smaller or larger crayon, or make them glitter crayons. In addition to solid colors, you also had a few patterns you could use, like a rainbow gradient, leopard spots, and honeycombs.

Microsoft Paint was another program I liked. I would draw different things, or make up games. For one example, I would fill the canvas with a color, then use the eraser tool to make burrows. And the eraser was literally the one crafting and living in the burrows.

I also played games on various children's websites, like Disney, Nick Jr., and PBS. They had games for 'Blue's Clues', 'Stanley', 'Hamtaro', and other shows I watched.

And on a somewhat unrelated note, I remember finding some of the computer screen savers pretty cool. There was one screen saver on some older versions of Windows that basically drew different colored pipes. And my parents found a cool screen saver that was a haunted house. It even had sound effects.

Preschool and Kindergarten

I also recall a few random things from early school days. In preschool, we learned songs that taught things like the months of the year. The classroom had a rack with picture books, and I wished we had more free time in class so I could read them. There were plenty of toys on the playground, including one plastic dinosaur I especially liked. When being picked up from school, I was once walking through the parking lot with my mother when I remembered I was still holding the toy, and we had to turn back so I could bring it back to the play area.

I also recall painting in kindergarten, and having to wear a smock so we wouldn't get the paint all over our clothes. And before school started, we would play with the toys in the classroom. There was a little pretend kitchen, and I always wanted to play in it. At the end of the year in kindergarten, the teacher had brought us to the playground we would have in first grade. My family was going to move that summer, so I didn't see the point in checking out the playground, and just sat on the sidelines.

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So what things do you recall from when you were a young child? Let me know about it in the comments.