How do you document funny things the kids do or say?
Now that DD#1 is more verbal, she is saying the funniest and cutest things (or at least they are funny and cute to us).
Like over the weekend she was laying on the bed with us in the morning and DH said to DD, "You want to go downstairs and get some breakfast?" She didn't respond or even look at him. He said in a more excited voice, "Hey A, you want to go downstairs and get some breakfast?" She paused for a moment and then said in a very mature voice, "I'm thinking about it."
Earlier this week I told her she was being a big girl for going pee pee on the potty. She looks me straight in the eye and says, "I am not a girl. I'm a boy." Later I asked her what me and DH are and she said we are both girls.
Anyway, my question is, how do you document cute little stories like these to keep for the kids when they get older? I am not a journaling person and I have horrendous, unreadable handwriting so writing them down is not an option. I thought of doing a Word document but since I don't spend much time on the computer at home, I know I wouldn't stick with it as well. I need something easy that I can do at work or at home. I was thinking of just emailing them to myself and putting them in a folder in my email and then printing them out on a regular basis like once a quarter. What do you all do?
Re: How do you document funny things the kids do or say?
I think emailing yourself is a great idea, I never thought of that. It's so quick, and you could gather them later into a Word document.
I think I'll steal that idea. Right now I post on FB when it's super cute - just this morning, my DD #2 said to DD #1 that she's the best (inserts name of DD #1) ever. Then they spontaneously hugged, which broke my heart into a million pieces.
But FB doesn't save them for me for posterity. I like the email idea.
That is such a sweet story. Yes, I think email will work. I sort of wish there was a company or website where you could log in and keep a journal and then they would format it so you could print a book or something. However, then I worry about what would happen if they went out of business or if my data was lost. I've had Hotmail for the past 12 years and it has kept everything so at least it seems reliable.
The other thing I wanted to do is write short little notes to my daughters. Like right now, DD#1 is growing up so fast and I want to capture some of my feelings of how I miss her being a baby but that I'm so proud of the little girl she is becoming.
I think this is an option if you want to put it together in a nice format as a keepsake down the line.
For non-quotes and just a memory book, I recently got this to track both big and mundane milestones over the years.
I have one of these too. I consider myself very accomplished if I can send out a monthly update. I haven't sent the August update yet...
haha, glad it's not just me - I did write an update, but i haven't posted any pics since 4.5 months...oops.
we have a shutterfly site that I updated monthly until DS's 1st b-day but will do less often now.
I have a draft email that I update and also a word doc. I do annual 120-pg photo books and I incorporate the stuff from the word doc into the books. For DD's 18mo 2-pg photo spread I had all the stuff she was saying (she was a very early talker), in 2 languages as well as little photos (i.e. there was a photo of her eating an apple next to the word apple; a pic of her uncle next to her words "Uncle Mike," etc etc).
There are a lot of things I slack on, but keeping up w/ pix is at the top of my priority list.
I created a google email account with my daughters name/initials. I email her from my account to her account when there is stuff I want to remember. I have also shared it with grandparents, aunts/uncles, a very few close friends and encourage them to send her email notes whenever.
I have only gotten a few emails from people, usually around monthly birthdates/birthdays, except for my dad. Which is a total surprise, he is not very demonstrative or communicative, but he sends his granddaughter emails often - whenever he thinks of her or when he sees a cute picture of her or when something happens nationally that makes him have deep thoughts about what her future is going to be like. This has become such an unexpected blessing to me, I feel like I'm getting to know a whole new side of my dad and that my daughter will have a record of how much her grandfather loved her and thought about her when/if he ever isn't here anymore.
I have some super simple folders set up in there - from mom, from dad, from Grandma & Grandpa, from Neena & Pop and all of their contacts are saved from my daughter's perspective, i.e. I am saved as Mom, my brother is saved as Uncle Charlie, etc.
I don't have a way to put it into a book, but its all there (and kind of in two places, in her in-box and in my sent mail folder) and all dated, so I can easily look up milestones and stuff. And its not too hard to find time to send off an email a couple of times a week/month.
That is so awesome. I think I'm going to do that. I can also CC the ones I sent and put it in one of my email folders so that I have a back-up. I know that my mom would love to write my daughters. Whenever she sees them, she'll write me an email afterwards of how much she enjoyed picking tomatoes with DD or playing a game with her. So, this will give her a nice way to contribute to the kids.
This idea was in my google reder just this morning. You could put your emails in something like this if you don't like your handwriting enough to use the card method.
https://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2011/09/guest-project-make-remember-quote-box.html