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New Beginnings
My mother gave birth to me in 1990 at a very popular hospital that started with the letter “K”. Or it might have been a “T”, who knows. I can recall my father telling me that my mother was in labor before she gave birth to me for a very long time. The textbook defines these birth complications as “failure to progress”, and thus she opted for a cesarean delivery. (Sec 3.1 in textbook) -
Stimulations
I was still too young to recall my early experiences, but I do remember the interactions my mom had with my youngest sister. As an infant, she would hold her by the arms while pretending to walk her and I observed her sister making stepping motions. Other times when we took family trips to the pool, she would automatically hold her breath when submerged underwater. She told me the family did the same things (observed as neonatal reflexes) with me when I was that age. (Sec 3.4 in textbook) -
"Who are you?!"
My aunties that rarely visited me in Hawaii, who flew in from American Samoa use to tell me I always had this sour look on my face whenever they tried to hold me or take me away from my mother. I believe my mother was my primary attachment figure and I viewed the separation from her as a legitimate threat. (Sec 4.9 in textbook) -
"Oh, let me have a go!"
When I lived in Corpus Christi, TX from around 1990 to about 1995, my family attended a Pentecostal church. It's very common for members of this denomination to very animated during their praise and worship periods of the church service. It's an often loud and high-energy atmosphere. My parents told me as an infant I use to through my head back and "sing" while clapping off-beat. This act of delayed imitation followed me home and often persisted throughout the week. (Sec 5.3 in textbook) -
Forgotten Language
I'm absolutely terrible at it now, but my relatives tell me at around 1 1/2 -2 years old I could respond and seemingly understand just about everything they would tell me in the Samoan language. I believe the ability I used for that process involved fast mapping. (Sec 5.4 in textbook) -
Nap Time
Although I was around 3 years old, I can still remember the moping feeling I would get when my parents told me it was time for “big brother duties” for my sister who was a year younger. I would find an open area so she could lay her head in my lap to take a nap. I remember being cranky because her big head was hurting my legs. The ratio size of her head to her body can be described by the cephalocaudal principle. My feelings of crankiness were justified. (Sec 4.1 in textbook) -
Prepare For Take Off
My family prepared us to move back to Hawaii around the the time I was 5 years old. It was a very early morning and I remember looking out of the car window on our way to the airport. I processed the stars in the night sky and the full moon with our near departure, and thought we were about to leave the planet. I liken this experience of my thought process to Piaget's "theory of the mind" as I was becoming a representational thinker. (Sec 6.4 in textbook) -
Passionate Practice
The earliest drawing I could remember that I thought, "wow, I think this looks great!" was around the age of 6. It was looked something liked the photo I attached. Just a lot worse! Anyway, I remember working so hard on it after figuring out I could draw birds with just a couple of deliberately placed strokes. They were my favorite things because they looked so good and yet they were very easy to draw. My motor development had come a long way since simple stick figures. (Sec 6.4 in textbook) -
Misunderstandings
After my youngest sister was born in 1996, I had plenty of fun playing with her. One of my favorite things was running my fingers through my her hand and watching how she would immediately grasped it. Those were some pretty dramatic moments for me because I felt so loved. Of course I now know that her prereaching reflex. Though premature, it seems I was beginning to grasp my feelings of love for my sister through development of my intrapersonal skills. (Sec 7.3 in the textbook) -
"I can't see!"
This was one of the more memorable facts I've learned in this class. Because I remember going through a phase around the age of 6 or 7 where my doctor suggested I needed glasses. I was becoming very good at writing letters in cursive and I often enjoyed practicing to write them even through our lunch breaks. I didn't know the brief of onset of myopia would result from that passion. (Sec 7.1 in textbook) -
A Better Tomorrow
Although my parents came from what would be considered the "lower class", they were able to work hard to support and provide my sisters and I with things they didn't have while growing up. So while the economic system in the United States is designed so that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the consistent work ethic and drive of my parents instilled an intrinsic motivation within us to one day provide the next generation with another step forward. (Sec 7.5 in textbook) -
Asthma
Growing up with asthma was surely due to high levels of emotional anxiety I constantly experienced. Although this was a terrible time period for me, I'm seeing that it could've been so much worse. (Sec 7.2 in textbook) -
Traumatic (Borderline Funny) Experience
I remember going to American Samoa around the age of 8 or 9 while school was in session for a relative's funeral. My mother enrolled my sister and I into school during our visit. I remember peer tutoring (as well as discipline) being very common there. Once, our teacher asked just about everyone in the classroom for the answer to a math question. After no one answered correctly, I got it right. I was then ordered to slap every person in the face. I couldn't believe it. (Sec 7.5 in textbook) -
Finally!
Ahhhhh. I still remember it as if it were yesterday. Thank goodness for puberty. During most of childhood, my sister who was a year younger than me, love to brag to everyone about how close we were to each other in height. It really took a toll on my "boyhood", until the faithful summer of 2001. I grew about 2 inches! I couldn't believe it. I never looked back (or up) at her ever since. (Sec 8.1 in textbook) -
Is There a God?
I grew up in a very strict Christian household. My father would without a doubt be considered "old school" in regards to religion. He never allowed us to read anything other than the King James Version Bible that contained the "thee(s)" and the "thou(s)". It wasn't until I reached about 13 years old that we began to see things differently as I ventured towards a more secular perspective of the world. He wasn't and still isn't too happy about my decision to change. (Sec 8.6 in textbook) -
Yet It Wasn't For Nothing
Even though my father had such a strict religious grasp on me throughout the majority of my life growing up, it also protected me in many ways I didn't know until after I graduated high school (and until I took this class). I think this factor of religiosity, kept me from joining many of the Samoan gangs which my relatives were a part of in Waipahu. (Sec 8.8 in textbook) -
Indecisivenss
I've always had the ability to hyperfocus on a task I was interested in. The opposite was not true. I'm 29 years old right now and just recently decided on a definite career pathway that I feel wholeheartedly committed to for the first time. The first time this "age of identity explorations" hit me like a brick wall was during a class while taking a Myers Briggs test in my junior of high school. (Sec 9.1 in textbook) -
"Thank You For Everything!"
When I came across this section I felt strong, positive emotional response. Around the age of 17 was when I realized my parents were probably not going to be around forever. My wife is half Japanese so this is true in her immediately culture as well; but I just adore how the Asian culture prioritizes taking care of their parents during their golden years. I'm working hard right now to one day do the same for my father. (Sec 9.1 in textbook)
