Keep track of your baby’s childhood
May 15, 2009
MY mum hardly remembers the milestones in my childhood. She can’t recollect when I first walked, talked, sat up or those times I cried as she parted from me at the school gate. ‘If only I could remember when you first said ‘momma’ she reminisces.
By Ruth Ssebagala
MY mum hardly remembers the milestones in my childhood. She can’t recollect when I first walked, talked, sat up or those times I cried as she parted from me at the school gate. ‘If only I could remember when you first said ‘momma’ she reminisces.
Don’t make the same omission. You can keep those memories of your subsequent children if you are committed to do a few things.
Get a ‘memory box’, where you can keep a few things with sentimental value. You can pick out a few things that were used in hospital, the baby tag, your treasured maternity dress, a T–shirt that fitted perfectly at one month, etc. You could also include congratulation cards you received after delivery and the newspaper of the day your baby was born.
Capture the different expressions and the different growth of your baby on a video camera. This could be done at every birthday celebration.
As children become active and start offering you ‘gifts’ of papers, insects, pictures, paintings, keep them.
Keep a journal (it is easier than a diary) to write down worries, joys, and annoyances and date them. You could also add those memorable quotes that your child made as they were learning how to talk. Don’t forget to let your baby’s grandparents, aunts, uncle and older siblings write a word or two for the baby. You can also jot down in the journal all the congratulatory text messages you received on the day your baby was born.
Invest in a phone with a camera, to capture those first hours of your baby and print them later. In addition to that, you need to take as many pictures as you can of the baby and put them in an album. If you do not have a camera at home, take your baby to a studio or hire a mobile photographer to do the job for you. In the pictures, vary the poses and the setting as much as possible. Remember to include other family members, yourself included in the same pictures as the baby.
Make hand and foot prints of your baby at every stage of their growth. You could do this by tracing their palms and feet every month on a piece of paper. Be sure to use different colour markers every month. You can also make the prints by dipping your baby’s feet and hands in water-colour paints and press them against sturdy paper.
You could give these mementos as gifts to your children when they become teenagers. You can also present the same memories to your child when they start their own family on their wedding day.
Motherhood and childhood is a joy and every moment should he cherished.
MY mum hardly remembers the milestones in my childhood. She can’t recollect when I first walked, talked, sat up or those times I cried as she parted from me at the school gate. ‘If only I could remember when you first said ‘momma’ she reminisces.
Don’t make the same omission. You can keep those memories of your subsequent children if you are committed to do a few things.
Get a ‘memory box’, where you can keep a few things with sentimental value. You can pick out a few things that were used in hospital, the baby tag, your treasured maternity dress, a T–shirt that fitted perfectly at one month, etc. You could also include congratulation cards you received after delivery and the newspaper of the day your baby was born.
Capture the different expressions and the different growth of your baby on a video camera. This could be done at every birthday celebration.
As children become active and start offering you ‘gifts’ of papers, insects, pictures, paintings, keep them.
Keep a journal (it is easier than a diary) to write down worries, joys, and annoyances and date them. You could also add those memorable quotes that your child made as they were learning how to talk. Don’t forget to let your baby’s grandparents, aunts, uncle and older siblings write a word or two for the baby. You can also jot down in the journal all the congratulatory text messages you received on the day your baby was born.
Invest in a phone with a camera, to capture those first hours of your baby and print them later. In addition to that, you need to take as many pictures as you can of the baby and put them in an album. If you do not have a camera at home, take your baby to a studio or hire a mobile photographer to do the job for you. In the pictures, vary the poses and the setting as much as possible. Remember to include other family members, yourself included in the same pictures as the baby.
Make hand and foot prints of your baby at every stage of their growth. You could do this by tracing their palms and feet every month on a piece of paper. Be sure to use different colour markers every month. You can also make the prints by dipping your baby’s feet and hands in water-colour paints and press them against sturdy paper.
You could give these mementos as gifts to your children when they become teenagers. You can also present the same memories to your child when they start their own family on their wedding day.
Motherhood and childhood is a joy and every moment should he cherished.