What were you like as a little girl?

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I seldom ever sat still. I was always spinning and dancing. If I was sitting still, I'd be drawing - with an orange felt tip pen and a pad of paper I was in my glory. When I was with other kids, I was trying to be kind and helpful - I used to sit with other kids who were struggling with schoolwork and tutor them. They did appreciate it, as did their parents. Otherwise, I'd be dancing and spinning, probably much to their annoyance. When I was 7, I became very shy and the hyperactivity subsided.

I was a loner much of the time. I loved reading---would you believe it---college level archeology book and childrens encyclopedias. Also loved reading comic books.
Loved nature---kept "pet" grass hoppers and caterpillar. (we weren't allowed amy other pets).
Very emotionally sensitive. Very tender-hearted.

I was certainly different than I am now; scared all the time, barely talked, looked at the ground, endlessly counted to eight in my head to distract myself from my troubles. It wasn't easy, but I got through it.

I was very much like a little boy I think. I didn't like to do little girl things. I like climbing trees, digging in the dirt, and the like. I was much "lighter" as a child. At about 8 or so I became very introverted and anxious. I never quite recovered.

Watching my home videos as a kid, I was very extroverted, imaginative, verbal, and tomboyish. I may have been shy in some situations, but not the majority, now that I review my films objectively.

I do not appear very extroverted now, at least in the stereotypical sense. I am still imaginative, verbal, and tomboyish, though.

I mostly played alone, reading, drawing, building forts and doing crafts. I'd get very absorbed in my projects or live in a fantasy world and when I talked to my family I'd annoy them by blabbering obsessively about whatever I was interested in. I used to read while walking, eating, whenever my mom wouldn't make me stop. I had imaginary friends until the age of 27 or so (no typo). I was never bored since I could entertain myself very well, and I often hid from my family and other kids. As a small child I liked to pet my own eyelashes and eyebrows or velvety fabric, and I would drum my fingers a lot. I was clumsy, couldn't tell time on a normal clock until I was 14 and never learned to hit a baseball.
In school I got straight A's except occasionally when I would get anxious about an assignment that seemed to invade my privacy too much (writing about myself, working in a group) and blow it off. I skipped a grade. I had a few friends in elementary school, not close, and none after that - I was picked on constantly and just wanted to be left alone. Although I wanted to be good I would often find myself having a tantrum and misbehaving when I was stressed, and then end up hating myself for it. I ran away from home several times as a preteen.
I grew up in the 80's and was labeled "gifted" as well as "a problem child". I was diagnosed with depression as a teen, but no one could really figure out what was wrong with me.

I was always a loner, I never joined in group activities I prefered to do my own thing.
I wasn't into dolls I prefered to play with cars and my soft toys.
One time I had a meltdown because someone had my easel in kindergarten and I ripped their painting off the easel.
People used to tell me to smile more and all that did was make me annoyed.

I worried that I was a guy.

Nuh said.

I was very talkative, I narrated my life and things that were going to happen for many years.

I loved bugs when I was little, I even went to a science camp in the desert all about bugs(my 1st time at summer camp too!)

I liked things done MY way, I was sort-of bossy.

I was/am close to my mother, I don't know how to describe it, I do love her, it's like I feel I can't leave her, but it's not like we get along really well... we do care about each-other. I have a hard time being separated from her(though I may not actually want to be with her), I really don't know how to describe it, and that probably didn't make any sense...

I was a very active child, my mum called me "possessed"(in a friendly way, not like actual demon way), I had a LOT of energy, I was even tested for ADD but wasn't diagnosed with it as I did much better during the quiet/secluded/one-on-one testing then I did in the loud/crowded/busy classroom. I was always go-go-going.

I didn't watch much TV and when I did it was PBS(I especially loved "Nature")
I played outside in the yard as often as I could, I was very imaginative(this is the #1 thing teachers had to say about me throughout elementary school). I loved to play pretend, and did so much longer then my peers(I still do it sometimes )

when I was really little I would wander, I was a bit of a escape artist as well.

and I had really terrible tantrums when I was little

I also cried easily(I was often known to cry at school)


there's more, but the list is long and the night short, so perhaps another time

For starters, I was obsessed with dinosaurs.

I was pretty much a little aspiring scientist trapped in the body of a girl with the personality of a boy.

I was into dinosaurs, I played with Tech decks, trading card games (I still do hehe), I played sports with other boys and would race them. However, that doesn't necessarily mean I got along with everyone well.
I was bullied for the longest time, but I was particularly ignorant in terms of socializing (wow, an as pie bad at socializing? shocker! ). But I mean really ignorant. To the point where I didn't even know my presence was unwanted.

I had echolalia in which I'd repeat everything I'd say but under my breath. That got on people's nerves. I was also very impressible. I still am, but not as bad as before.

I also loved writing and drawing and coming up with the silliest stories. I still do. I still write and make short films and occasionally make minimalist paintings. I think this is inherently the only thing I was ever good at, if anything at all, coming up with stories because I've always lived in my own little optimistic fantasy world.

I was also really stupid. I mean I knew a lot of scientific facts about space and dinosaurs but I was really stupid about everything else. I pretty much had no common sense. I was just this robot who acted on every little thing I picked up.

I only got better starting 10th grade when I changed schools. I went from a Christian school to a liberal arts school. And I think what I needed was a new perspective. Eventually, I started developing a broader conscience and understanding of how to socialize with other people without being tormented for my lack of understanding.

I was an extremely shy child, even around my family. My parents were the only people I felt I could be myself around.

Due to this shyness (and general lack of interest in other kids my age), I spent most of my time indoors. I was very creative and could easily entertain myself for hours with construction paper, markers, pipe cleaners and those little fuzzy pompoms. Oh how I loved those pipe cleaners! I also read a lot. I had a huge Rubbermaid tub full of books my parents had acquired from anywhere they could find them. Garage sales, relatives, etc. Most of them weren't new because they had stained covers and the spines were ripped. I liked this about my books. One of them even had teeth marks in the corner, though this very well could have come from me

When I think back to my childhood, I remember my parents sleeping a lot. They'd take hours-long naps, and it was during this time that I had the most fun. We had this really thick Merck Manual of medical disorders that I liked to read (actually, I still do. It's sitting next to my bed). I was fascinated by the diagrams of DNA structure and the human body. As far as I remember, the text itself pretty much made sense to me at the time. I was 6 years old.

As I got older, around 8-12 years old, I became lazier and started watching a lot more television. I'd never lost my old interest in all things medical, however, and would often watch "Life in the ER" and "A Baby Story" when the good cartoons ended. Thinking back, I realize that medicine was my childhood special interest. I'm still fascinated by it to this day.

I was such a daydreamer. I remember my dad used to read my sister and me the Mr Men books. When he got to Mr Daydream, he changed the name from Mr Daydream to my name, not to be cruel, it was just his humour.
A few girls here have posted about the blank expressions in photos, I had that too. There's a photo my mum has of me on my third birthday party. Everyone is smiling expect me, I seem to be staring off into the distance. I used to like to rock back and forth, particularly if a song came on the radio that I liked, or I'd spend ages on my rocking horse. I did this until one day my dad took the mickey out of me, and then I stopped.
I mostly I preferred to talk to teachers about the planets, the gases on each planet and other things they didn't want or need to know about. Another time it was dinosaurs, and my teachers probably thought it odd that I could spell the word 'Tyrannosaurus', but do so badly in spelling tests.

Smaller.

I was very quiet as a little girl, I always followed the rules so I never made any trouble. I didn't really play with the other kids that much. I would normally stand on the outside and observe and sorta play by myself. However since I was so well-behaved, this didnt raise any red flags for me as a little kids.

However I went to an all girls school for one yr during 3rd grade and went mute. Since the teachers and other admin staff were more skilled knowing little girls behavior, they sensed there was something wrong. I went to a counseler and just got diagnosed with selective mutism. I look back and think I should have been diagnosed with Aspergers at age 9 but then aspergers wasnt as readily known about back then in 1997-1998ish. Besides, back then they hadnt yet recognized that women were vastly underdiagnosed. Its not something you would look for in a little girl. I wonder, if I was young now, if I would have been detected since theres a lot more awareness?

extraordinarily quiet. to such a degree that none of my classmates believed i could speak until the second grade, at least. in kindergarten, i spent all of my breaks wandering after my shadow on the playground. i don't think i interacted with the other children at all, beyond merciless teasing (and the teasing was too lateralized to be considered "interactive" since i never responded to their taunts - beyond becoming more withdrawn). i was asynchronous, reading college literature at age eight but unable to discern my left from my right until age fourteen. i was small and waif-like but fast and agile. i liked climbing trees, rollerblading and was given to occasional bouts of mischief. i was extremely vulnerable to social persuasion and peers exploited this, seeking me out to do ridiculous things simply because they knew i was too naive to know better (and otherwise too passive to refuse). my primarily special interest in those days was art (i.e. never went anywhere without a sketchbook). i taught myself to draw photo-realistically by studying antiquated art technique books from the library. i was, am still am, very much into daydreaming. i think it was more intense in those days, though, because i was regularly accused of "staring" at people "weirdly" (when, infact, i'd merely lost myself in the vivid intensity of my thoughts while looking in a particular direction unconsciously).

I was very very impulsive and creative-I'd go from activity to activity with enthusiasm, joy, and absolutely no self awareness. I was just present in the moment and did my best. Now things are very different.