My name is Monik. I have 10 brothers and 3 sisters. I'm the 10th kid, the youngest girl. We live in the second house on Tetro Road. It never used to have a number (that was just for
houses in town), but now it does and it is #4.
We have 4 bedrooms in our house.
There's my mom and dads room, the boys room,
the girls room, and the baby's room. I used
to be in the baby's room, but since two of my oldest sisters are gone, now I'm in
the girls room with my big sister, Anne. I'm in the bottom bunk because I'm little, but
it's okay because I can hang a blanket down and then it's not just a bed, it's a
fort! My sister is too old to play with me,
so it's just me and sometimes the hamster in my fort. And books! Always lots of books.
The boys room is really cool.
There's a bunkbed and a closet, and another
bunkbed and a closet, and another bunkbed. Along the front is a big, long desk so they can
do their homework... But usually I see it piled up with laundry and books and stuff.
I'm not really allowed in the boys room,
but sometimes I have to go in to bring in their clean laundry for my Mom. Then I take my time to see what I might be missing.
I think they must have lots of fun with pillow
fights and stuff, more fun than just me in my fort. Sometimes my brothers will shout, "Get out
of our room!" and I will race out as fast as I can. It smells funny in there.
The little kids room has the baby's
crib in it and since it is across the hall from the laundry, it usually has a lot
of stuff piled in it. There's a spot to change
the baby, and a chair to hold him and rock him to sleep. I like to tiptoe in to see if the baby is sleeping
- sometimes he's not and will give me a big smile!
My Mom and Dad's room has a nice
big bed that I can snuggle in with them if I have a bad dream. They have a big dresser that has so many neat things
that I'm not allowed to touch, and books that I'm too small to read yet. If I go into the room, my Mom always knows and
calls, "What are you doing in there?" and I answer, "Nothing!",
and scurry out.
We have two bathrooms in our house,
which is good because when you have to go, you don't have to wait for too long.
Except if someone brings a book in there,
or a Readers Digest to read the jokes. The
one by the kitchen is bigger and also has a bathtub.
Our kitchen has a great, big table
with a chair on each end, a bench along one side, and more chairs along the other
side. My usual spot is on the bench with my little brothers. The bench is sort of like a stage; there's enough
room to march back and forth behind whoever is sitting there, and the others can't
help but watch. We always have meals together,
especially dinner. There's a radio in the
kitchen that sometimes plays CBC, or my dad will switch it to play a Canadian Brass
tape. I love the sound of that, and of hearing
my Dad or Mom humming along to the music.
The living room is nice and cosy.
It's got carpet on all the floor so you can
sit anywhere, like if there's not enough room on the couch or the chair. Mom has
lots of plants in the window, and she is good at getting them to have flowers on
them. We're not allowed to rough house in
the living room because we might break a lamp or knock over the plants. My Mom always says, "Go outside if you want
to rough-house!" so we do. Like on a
Saturday morning if we have just finished watching Tarzan and we are pretending
to be Cheeta or Tarzan, it's best to do that outside before we get in trouble.
Our house also has a basement,
but it's kind of scary and dark. I keep my
skiis down there if they are not outside in the snowbank, or if it's summer. My big brothers have a room down there that they
keep locked so the little kids can't get in and wreck their stuff. I have peeked in and they have about a hundred
records down there, and a nice record player, but they mostly use headphones so
no one else can hear. The rest of the basement
has basement stuff like the water pump and chimney, Moms preserves, and other mostly
boring stuff.
It's a nice house and it has a
nice, big yard. It's my home and there is
always someone there. In the summer or the
winter, I can find lots of stuff to do, and usually someone to play with, too. I like my house; it's my home.
