My Family Is Quiet As A Mouse

By the time kindergarden started, I was reading and writing all by myself. My mother said that I was so developmentally advanced that I treated kindergarden like social time. I had many friends and continued to include everyone. At this time I was especially close with my neighbor Layne and my other friend Meagan. I was with my neighbor almost every second of every day. We even went to the same in-home day care. My teachers took note of this and always paired us up with shy people so we could break them out of their shell. One of those shy people was my other friend Meagan. My parents were very impressed with all of the respect and kindness I showed at such a young age.

Unlike most people, I did not get to be a carefree child for long. Even though I always said that I could not wait to grow up, now I wish that it all did not happen so fast and early in my life. From eleven to twelve years old—that would be the period I describe as the time I had to put my big-girl pants on and face the real, cruel and unwelcoming adult world. In that time period, I can specifically pinpoint two major events that ended my childhood: my move from Russia to the United States and the birth of my baby sister Toma. To some those might not seem significant enough to change someone’s life to the extent that they changed mine; however those events molded me into the person I am today.

A few years had past since my family had become a statistic, when my sister and brother left home on their way to their own goals in life. This new change produced even a greater effect on me than did the departure of my father. Now came the time where I decided if no one else had to stay in the family, neither did I. I took this opportunity to become closer to my friends and their families hoping to become more welcome there than I did at home. It was not long after my constant deviation from what was left of my family that my mother decided she was going to keep me out of the house for extended periods of time. Now the time had come for me to really find my path in life.

I remember the rattling and squeaking of the bunk beds as we jumped around laughing. My room was basic except the bunk beds that I found fun in many different ways from jumping off the top into pillows to pretending the floor was lava with my siblings, those memories will never leave my mind. With my brother, David Gaipo Junior, being ten years older than me it was hard to connect at times, but I could look up to him and learn without him even knowing. One difference was that, my brother and I had different mothers with that obstacle I only saw him every weekend if I felt lucky.

When I was nine, my parents divorced and my dad moved back to his hometown. When I was 11, my mom moved my family out of our hometown to Frederick, Maryland. My mom was a single, working mom, and I was often left responsible for my three younger siblings. For the past 6 years, I have been cooking meals, checking homework, and cleaning up after my siblings.

I was born and raised in the small but growing city of Perris, CA. This isn’t the best city out there but it tends to grow on you, and you begin to truly love it for what it is. The people, however, not so much. The community can vary from which part of the city you’re in. That’s because there’s diversity here in Perris. I’m a product of this diversity, being half Mexican and half African American. My parents fell in love after high school and later on began a family. I am the youngest of five. I have two older brothers, an older sister, and an older cousin who lives with us. The order is boy, girl, boy, boy, girl with my cousin being included in there too. We all live in the same house with my parents and are quite close with each other. They all seem to have raised me growing up due to the fact that my parents were busy trying to provide for us. This was a challenge by itself, resulting in lots of house moving and my father being unemployed for six years after losing his job. I never complained about moving because I knew that my parents were doing their absolute best and were working with all that they had and then some. This unquestionably made me adaptable to new environments and gave me a

I’m just a girl from a small town called Dale, South Carolina. I grew up here most of my life but I’ve been back and forth to North Carolina. I currently live in Burton, South Carolina now still with my parents and other three siblings. As a child, I was troubled. I grew up as a preacher’s kid it runs in the family. I hardly missed a Sunday of church but that still didn’t stop me from acting up in school. I knew better then to act the way I did but I always had to prove myself to somebody. I was always named a bully because of my size even before somebody took the time to get to know me I guess that’s the life I chose. I live with both my mom and dad, plus my 3 siblings. I have 4 siblings total but I only see my other sister on my dad’s side

When I was only four years old, my life changed forever. It was the year I moved to North Carolina. My dad’s friend got him a job opportunity that he simply couldn’t give up. So, he quit his job and found a nice rental house to live in. I had moved before but I don’t remember. I moved from Indiana to North Carolina with my brother my cat and my parents. When I moved to North Carolina, I was aware of what was happening, but I never realized how different everything would be. The house we moved into we only lived in for a year, but it was a pretty hectic year.

Sophie and I would pack our 50 pound bags including all of our clothing, shoes, and all the hair accessories we owned. We would also throw in a picture of mom and dad, our pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals, just for fun! We would get ready for bed and then kneel beside grandma and grandpa and say a prayer. Then they would send us to the pink bedroom. Sophie and I would use grandmas big long pillow and try and make a bridge from one of the beds to the other. This always resulted in falling and then getting in trouble. We would eventually fall asleep and then wake up the next morning ready to start the cooking lesson. I remember making some sort of cookie dough, and as I was adding and baking; Sophie was tossing. She had rolled some cookie dough into a ball and was tossing it into the air. She did this for a couple of seconds and then all the sudden the dough ball didn’t come down. I’m pretty sure I was in charge of distracting grandma while Sophie went to go get a stool and pull the dough

I was born in Glendale, Wisconsin, I lived there for 6 years, me and my family were living in a really quiet neighborhood, I didn’t have friends from that neighborhood, that's where I got my shyness, I didn't go out with anyone only with my family, as a child, I never thought about going out and having fun, in another word I didn't care, my family would always try and take us places, that is why me and my parents are so close, I tell them everything, I never hide anything from them, when I'm annoyed and need someone to talk to I will always go and talk to my mother or father.

Moving to the US with my dad, I had to learn to take care of myself and be independent. I had to tell myself that my mom is a thousand miles away and i’m on my own now. I used to cry every night because I was feeling homesick and i miss my mom and siblings so much. I miss the moments in the place I grew up in. I miss all the moments that I had with my siblings, playing and just being kids. I miss the moments where my mom would teach me how to cook and how to do other chores at home. I miss the moments where my mom was just steps away ready to comfort me. Because of this huge transition in my life, I became the person who I am today. I learned how to be independent and be stronger. I learned how to be a bigger person. My first week in the US was quite difficult. I wake up every morning only to realize that i’m in a different place. I cook breakfast for myself everyday, and I felt really lonely because I was just by myself in the kitchen. I feel so alone. Everything in the US was very fast paced and you have to move quickly or you’ll get left behind and you wouldn’t have any progress. On my first day at school, i felt so left out. Everybody were talking to their friends and there I was standing in the corner, not sure what to do. I tried to blend in but it was hard for me because i was scared that they might judge me. However, after a couple more weeks, I finally adjusted to my new lifestyle and met

I was a very shy child but I kept myself busy with my studies . I was well spoken and well read(according to my parents) and when I started school I could spell 3 syllable words. Other things I was taught at a youngs age, mainly by my siblings, were things as in how to play sports, skip stones, and tasks like sewing and cooking.

My parents took custody of my sister’s children, which then began the chaotic day-to-day home life that usually left me in tears by bedtime. I was in middle school at the time, as a middle school aged girl I felt a whirlwind of emotions. I wanted to do things that other kids my age were doing but that wasn’t always possible. With very mentally handicap children in our home it wasn’t easy to just invite a friend over to come spend the night, not only would my mom say no but also I was far too embarrassed. I wanted to go out and eat in a restaurant like I heard my friends talking about, but no, going out to eat with my sister’s children would be very difficult because they couldn’t sit still or refrain from making loud noises in public places. I wanted my mom to take my friend and I to the movies rather than always going with a friend and their mom, but my mom was always tied down to caring for my sister’s

When I was a little girl, I lived partly in my tiny house in Sammamish and partly in my imagination. I was content spending whole afternoons by myself, drawing picture books about wolves and daydreaming. It wasn’t until my first year of middle school that I found out I wasn’t like a lot of the other girls. I had some friends that I enjoyed hanging out with, but I didn’t understand why I felt drained after spending the day at the mall with them. They didn’t seem to need the alone time I craved so I told myself they were “normal” and I should be more like them.

I chose Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model of child development to reflect on my stages of development. In the microsystem of Bronfenbrenner’s model, my early childhood family structure included my uncle, his wife and their five children. I went to live with my uncle after my mother passed away. By middle childhood, my uncle and his wife migrated to the United Sates and I went to live with one of his daughters( Erica) and her two children. They became my construct of what a family represent. Although I was welcomed in Erica’s family, I felt as if I did not belong in their family. The only place I felt accepted was at school. The classroom represented a place where I expressed my feelings without being ignored or judged by my peers. Also, I had very observant and understanding teachers who had the best of my interest. I had one teacher , Mr. Francis, who believed that I was capable of improving academically. At the end of his class, he noted in my report card that I had potential to be academically competent, however, I needed to settle down and apply myself to learning. His comments motivated me to do my best throughout elementary school. During elementary school, I maintained healthy relationships with my peers. There were never any reports of misconduct of any misunderstanding amongst my peers. In fact, interactions with them thought me how to engage in fair play, wait my turn, build trust and explore my environment. In exploring my environment, I