Baby book, revisited
Regular baby book prompts are for the birds. Allow me to present a few alternative ideas for your consideration.
I had the best of intentions when I bought a baby book. We all do, don’t we? And I thought I had myself pretty well-pegged. I knew my penchant for non-cutesy projects, so I chose a small journal-sized book with mostly blank pages, not too much in the way of religious material,1 and pretty paper-cut illustrations by Nikki McClure. There were pages for what songs we sing together,2 little notes for our current favorite books, and more. It was perfect–not too saccharine, not too big, and didn’t require professional scrapbooking skills. I was ready! I was going to create a lovely memory book filled to the brim with thoughts and experiences! My baby was born in July and I carefully filled out the first few pages…
Fast forward to November when Valerie, RVAFamily’s managing editor, reminded me to be sure to make a little tiny Thanksgiving hand-turkey with my baby for the baby book. I realized then that, aside from the birth story, there were just a whole lotta blank pages. I’d like to offer this explanation to you, The Baby Book Jury: The reason I’ve neglected the book is it just hasn’t offered me the right prompts. So, I’m presenting a few new baby book prompts for your consideration.
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Baby’s first overheard raccoon fight
Yes, there’s nothing like the sound of screeching banshees on the roof to wake up your little one and captivate you all. It’s a whole new experience, and you’ll want to record it for posterity, for sure. According to Twitter, it was on the 13th day of September, 2014, when we experienced that joyful occurrence. What a magical night!
Baby’s first lost sock
Obviously you can’t put the lost sock in the baby book, but how about its lonely twin? The bonus is that you not only get to pat yourself on the back for doing something with that sock, but you get to keep its tiny sockness to look back on fondly. Baby socks are the best, after all .
Baby’s first family holiday photo montage
I’m not trying to baby-shame here, but I’m pretty sure there’s a law that states babies will smile only out-of-focus or away from the camera for the holiday photo attempts. My suggestion is to embrace this rather than let that tear trickle into your eggnog when viewing the SD card results. Post those outtakes in that baby book with glee. I’m thinking our holiday card byline will be “We were too busy being JOYFUL this season to worry about having everything in focus!”
Baby’s first experience being adored by an elderly person in public
Elderly ladies love my baby. You’d think my baby was a Werther’s Original, they love her so much. I fully embrace this and welcome all the elderly coos. It’s enough to give a mama a big head about her baby’s cuteness, but you gotta take the happies when you get get ’em sometimes, I say.
Baby’s first meeting of the cousin(s)
My baby has one slightly older cousin, who is practicing his hugging skills. She only got a little squished at their first meeting, and was quite tickled by the experience even when he tried to sit on her. I think they’ll get on famously. (Love you, little nephew!)
Baby’s first lemon
This is probably way better to remember than baby’s first blueberry.3 That doesn’t make me mean, does it? Some babies love it! I just want to introduce her to lots of flavors!
Baby’s first review of French Laundry
OF COURSE.
Baby’s first really cute clothing item that ended up being too small by the time you tried to put him or her in it
In my case, this would be a pair of ADORABLE bee shoes. The fact that she grew is wonderful for her health…and one of the great terrible fashion tragedies of our times.
Baby’s first puppy lick on the face
You can’t shield them from it forever, so you might as well lean into it.4
Baby’s first sleep through the night.
This page should be plated in gold and shoot confetti from the book when you open to it.
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How about your kid’s baby book–how many pages did you actually fill out? What experiences would you suggest for writing prompts? Or, if you lost the darned thing months ago in the piles of stuff on your desk, feel free to share those milestones right here!
Photo by: Nadia Phaneuf
- A lot of baby books have baptism and godparent pages, for example. ↩
- This is our favorite right now. ↩
- A real prompt–which sounds sweet, it just hasn’t happened yet. ↩
- Though perhaps not literally… ↩
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Hayley DeRoche
Hayley DeRoche is a librarian with a penchant for cardigans and corduroys. Luckily, her professional life revolves more around technology & information than fashion.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
+1 on “BABY’S FIRST REALLY CUTE CLOTHING ITEM THAT ENDED UP BEING TOO SMALL BY THE TIME YOU TRIED TO PUT HIM OR HER IN IT.” I mean, what is that? You can wishfully try it on 79 times and the kid not fit into it yet, then you wait a little longer and they’re already too big. Unacceptable.
@Tess — right?! I (well, baby) was gifted bunny jammies at a 6 month size and I was like oh you will never be this big! And then last night I tested and WOE for they are going to be too small soon!