Morning fog on the Napa river. Thanksgiving 2012.
Every day I feel like Alice learns something new. Like last week, for instance, she mastered clapping her hands together when we say Clap! Clap! Clap! And this week, whenever we say Where is the cat? she will look around till she finds one of them and then will stare or reach with outstretched arms. These little moments are the things I am sure I'll forget. These little milestones of growth and development.
Even though I've been writing monthly letters to Alice with updates on what she's learned and how she's grown, I feel that, when I sit down to write one, my mind draws a blank for what to document. As we go through the month I'll think to myself Oh! I'll put this in her letter this month and then, when the time comes to write it, I've forgotten already. And then I remembered a great idea one of my friends had in our first Mommy Class.
Send an email of those little moments to Alice!
As much as I love the idea of scrapbooks and photo albums, I can't stand the clutter that goes along with it. And physically writing a letter or a note and then keeping track of them seems a bit tedious. So I set up an email account for Alice! And now I can send her a quick email every once in a while telling her about something she's just mastered (clapping!) or an adorable (or obnoxious!) thing she's just done. Or how much I love her (or how crazy she's driving me!). Maybe include a photo or two. That way, those little moments stay intact. And, someday, I can give her the password to that email account and she'll have a record of those moments as they were fresh in my mind. And then, years from now, I can look back on and remember those little moments of this very special time with my daughter.
How do you preserve memories of your life? Of your family's life? Maybe emailing letters seems a bit impersonal but it's 2012! And, emails won't fade or get water-logged or have to be packed into boxes for a move.
The sun rises, the fog fades. November 2012.
That's actually pretty cool... I wonder how many she will have before she can read them! I think I set up an email account for Wyatt too at some point just to reserve the name... but I'm not sure I remember exactly what it was :)
ReplyDeleteThe fog photos are beautiful. I use this app called awesome note to keep track of blog ideas, shopping lists, cool tv shows I want to watch, but I also have a section on Luella where I record her milestones, it can do it like a calender entry so you remember the date too. Though like you, I do tend to forget some stuff, like the first time she clapped. I have a baby book Nick's Aunt gave us that I should transfer it all to, but I am yet to do that.
ReplyDeleteWow things have sure changed since you were a baby Briana. I kept a calendar with notes about your first this or that and milestones about when you started to talk, walk, etc.
ReplyDeleteJust like you said, that calendar is somewhere in my many, many boxes of "stuff" in the basement. Oh, I could wade through each box, (which I did start that project, haven't finished). But having those memories where they won't get lost is an excellent idea.
Once again, I do admire your eye and creative ability to snap a perfect memory with your camera. Your pictures are beautiful. xoxo Mom