Catching Memories…Capturing Your Tiny Toddlers Tidbits

Maddie & Emmie Ages 4 and 6

Cassie Age 3

Girls Today

Create A Family Giggle Log  
In 2013, coincidentally, the same year that I started Clean & Clutter Free, Family Fun Magazine published our family’s idea to create what we call a "Family Giggle Log" (August Issue).  It was so mind blowing, and a tad bit unsettling that we could to go to Walmart and find our family’s photo in the latest Family Fun magazine.  

If you have young ones, I want to past this idea along to you. I know these years are busy, but it is during these all too fleeting years, starting around age 2 or 3 that our little charmers say and do things that capture our hearts and make us smile and laugh. I would give anything to live just one day with my children at age 3 again.  Nature’s ingenious way of ensuring that we don’t leave our troublesome, tantrum throwing toddlers on someone else’s doorstep, is that they are adorably sweet and funny all the while messing up a whole house faster than a tornado can roll through it.  It is during these years that our young ones see things with fresh eyes and ears, so innocent and genuine.  They never sugar coat the truth before it comes out of their mouths so what we hear is often interesting and  sometimes embarrassing.  This stage does not last long though, by about age 5 or 6, it starts to dissolve as their more mature intellect begins to develop. 
 
When our girls were young, my husband and I got into the habit of jotting down things that our girls would say that would make us laugh.  We correctly predicted that neither of us would have a keen enough memory to remember every funny or sweet thing they did or said, so we managed to form a habit of getting something down on paper when these moments occurred.  We had a notebook that we called our “Family Giggle Log”.  The entries were messy and short because we did not have a lot of time, but thanks to this little notebook, we captured memories that would have been long forgotten.  Now that our girls are well into their teenage years, they still enjoy our occasional recaps of the past as much as we do.  As predicted, out not only did I forget half the things my girls did when they were young but I can’t even keep straight which one did the things I do remember!  For this reason, I am ever grateful for the memories that we did catch before they slipped through our fingers like sand.   The following are a few of our favorite inserts from our Family Giggle Log hopefully they will make you smile too:  
 
Maddie –
“Mommy what is an earthquake?”  Me – “That is when the earth shakes around for a little while.”
Maddie - “Do you go upside down?”

Dad was at the park with the girls, and Maddie was hanging from the monkey bars...
Dad - "Be careful Maddie"
​Maddie -  “Dad!  You’re bothering my attitude!”

Cassie –
“Mommy, Why do women where bras?”
Me – “Oh just to give some extra support.” (I know this was a lame explanation but I couldn’t think of a better answer at the time).
Cassie - “Is it because bras help make men’s love you more?”
 
Cassie shared a story she wrote at school with  her dad....
Dad – Wow, good job, you really like to learn don’t you? 
Cassie – “Actually, I just like to impress people”.
 
Emily –
"Mommy,  if I throw my booger into the fire will it explode?”
 
“If I put on a whole bunch of clothes, to you think I could live inside the refrigerator?"

And one more from Emily because she was extra inquisitive...
“If everyone in the world blew on my finger at the same time would it fall off?” 
 
I have already managed to copy many of Maddie’s Giggle Log entries into a scrapbook that I created for her when she graduated, and I plan to do the same for the younger two when I get around to making their scrapbooks...hopefully before they graduate.  For me, capturing our young children’s special moments in photos and in written form, through journaling, letters and stories, holds greater power to take our family back to this precious time than other kinds physical keepsakes, so I limit keeping larger keepsakes like art work and projects.  Words and photos take up much less room in our home and I just take photos of the rest.

Having lived through raising my own children, the best advice I can give to young parents is this;  The most special memories made are the ones that they hold in their hearts as the years go by. For us, surprisingly they were not the times that we went to Chuckie Cheeses, instead it was the times that we did seemingly silly things together like having a picnic in the basement on a cold winter day that they seem to remember and cherish the most.  So while it is good to try to capture some your child's memories when you can, ideally through photos, videos and written words, don't get so caught up in taking photos and such, that you miss out on being fully present during those precious moments as they rapidly roll by.



Written By Laura Coufal
Clean & Clutter Free Professional Organizing Services