Around 65 years ago

Balancing on a tricycle

 I was a toddler back around 1953 and 1954. Of course, I don’t remember anything from that period of my life, but my parents told me two stories of my infancy and early childhood. First of all, when people see this first photo of me on a tricycle, they almost remark with a smile “why are you wearing a dress?” My response is simply because my mother had two sisters before me, and ‘hand-me-downs’ were probably popular back in the early 1950s in Malta, irrespective of gender. Besides, I am told that this is not a dress but a rumper, which could be worn by both baby boys and girls.

A frequent comment "You were so cute....what happened?

One of the stories is about an accident I had when a dog we had bit me on my cheek. I still have a slight scar to record that canine attack. Most probably I pulled his tail, or did something to that dog, which I was told was named Gangu. The other story is probably more entertaining and mischievous. Apparently, I was left alone in an enclosed balcony we had in our home, and most probably I was naked, and people were ringing the doorbell of our home, to tell my mother that “your baby is peeing on us!” The worst of it was that I was laughing all through this ‘sprinkling’, which made the people more annoyed. But I’m sure most of them laughed too, because boys will be boys, and it was an innocent prank done by a toddler who was left without a diaper.

With my two older sisters, Josephine and Rosemarie