SECTION 1 :)

A) My mom was pregnant with me (and my sister) for 7 months. For the majority of her pregnancy, she was with her sister (my aunt), who was also pregnant. At the time, my dad was deployed to Afghanistan and was about to finish a 3-month assignment. My mom described her pregnancy with me as difficult and slow, but it was nice having her sister going through the same thing she was. She said that she was huge with two kids in her, and that she had lots of weird cravings throughout the pregnancy.

My mom was in labor for 5 hours at Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City , and fortunately my dad was there to cheer her on. I was born first at 3 ½ pounds at 3:47 AM, and my sister was next at 4 pounds at 3:50 AM. We were born on October 19th, 2001. There were lots of issues with the birth because we were born 2 months early and because we were so small, so we stayed at the hospital for around 3 months while they performed surgery and regulated our breathing and heart rate.

B) I was given the name ‘Maggie’ primarily because my mom’s grandmother was named Maggie. Not Margaret, not Magdalene, just Maggie. In Persian, the name Maggie means child of light. Also, my dad really likes the song ‘Maggie May’ by Rod Stewart.

C) Other names my parents considered included:

Female - Alyssa, Cecilia, Lizzy, Paige, Emily, and Clementine

Male -  Matthew, Mark, Luke, John (very biblical, I know)

SECTION 2 :)

1) My mom was in labor for around 5 hours.

2) 3 ½ lbs; 7.9 inches

(I'm on the left, Samantha is on the right!)

4) I got my first tooth at around 6 months.

5) I took my first steps at around 9 months.

6) I was potty trained at around 30 months.

7) I lost my first tooth when I was 7 years old.

8) As a toddler and in Preschool I was on track, learning to be independent, set goals and thinking I could achieve them, and feeling guilt.

9) My current vision is 20/20 with my contacts in. I got glasses at 12 years old and I got contacts when I was 15 years old.

10) Puberty is a period of your life where you grow quickly and mature in sexual organs. Puberty generally happens between 8 and 14 years old, and it is not at a fixed age for all people. For instance, some girls may develop breasts sooner than others.

12) Pepe Roni and Sal Lami were best friends in 5th grade. Pepe began to develop breasts and matured early on. Her period started before any of her friends, and she couldn’t relate to anyone. Pepe Roni starts to get bullied about these things, and Sal Lami starts to drift away from her. Sal Lami starts to play sports and grows popular. She distanced herself from Pepe and grows in her self confidence, while Pepe becomes insecure. Pepe and Sal both went through the same process of maturing, but because of the timing of when they started was different, they experienced puberty differently: Sal in a more positive way and Pepe in a more negative way.

SECTION 3 :)

13) My first word was ‘Dada’.

14) I said my first word when I was about a year old.

15) This was the first word I said because my dad was persistent.

16) I used to slur the words ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and would say ‘plznthku’.

17) I had trouble saying my ‘r’s and ‘th’s and I went to a speech class every Thursday when I was in 2nd grade.

SECTION 4 :)

19) I was most attached to my mom because my dad was gone for a lot of my childhood with work.

20) Imprinting is when an animal comes to recognize a person as a parent or object of habitual trust. This sort of supports why I was more attached to my mom as a kid - I was around her more.

21) When I was young I had a stuffed animal Golden Retriever named Gussie, which is short for Augustus, my first dog who was there from the start! I still have Gussie, who holds a place on a shelf above my bed! :)

22) The overall effects of having no attachments in one’s childhood is extremely severe. Attachments in childhood serve to build confidence in the child with other people, and if they can not build this skill in childhood, they will suffer from this. Because my father was not around as much as I needed since he had to work long hours and trave, I did not attach with my father until my later years.

SECTION 5 :)