Get Your Copy: Happy You, Happy Family 16 Creative Ways to Preserve Memories And Make Time Slow Down When you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.īottom line: If you find something that resonates in the list below, just ask yourself, “How can I remind myself to do this every day?” (For a complete guide to using the power of habits to set yourself up for happiness, check out my book Happy You, Happy Family.) Training your brain to pick up a new habit can be as simple as: setting a repeating alarm on your phone to remind you at a certain time of the day, using a visual cue to remind you like a neon-colored sticky note † or a colorful hair tie on your wrist, or writing a reminder on your bathroom mirror with window markers. I’m certainly not saying you need to make these “bottle the moment” habits into a total drag like a daily exercise habit or flossing or going to sleep at a decent hour when you’d rather be binge-watching old Buffy episodes. Related: How to Connect With Your Child: The Magic of the 5:1 Ratio With the countdown to my youngest’s birthday drumming in my ears, I’ve been feverishly reading everything I can about how to capture these small moments before they disappear. I thought letting these special memories slip through your fingers as your kids grow older is just the name of the parenting game. Bottle the special moments.Īt first, I didn’t think it was possible. My grief over losing these small moments with my young kids hardened into a fierce resolve. The realization that I’d missed the end of a special connection with my child spilled over from my cheeks to my lap. We just sat there while she twirled my hair, and the feeling that it was all slipping away settled in my throat. I stopped talking that day, and she did too. She no longer reached her not-quite-pudgy-anymore fingers out to me, seeking comfort. She played with it to fall asleep, to calm down, to feel connected.Īnd in that moment, it hit me that somewhere along the way, she’d stopped. Ever since Bailey was a baby, she’d been obsessed with my hair. She reached out to my hair and started twirling it.īecause I realized. I sat down near her with my back up against the couch, chatting about what we should do the rest of the day. I’ll forever regret not capturing the way my oldest said “hippopotamus” when she was a toddler.īut this weekend, a moment with my 4-year-old Bailey filled me with an urgency to freeze time that I haven’t felt before.īailey was waking up from an afternoon nap on the couch. One week, they’re doing something cute, and the next, it’s just…gone. “Maybe I’ll catch it another time,” I thought.Īfter three kids, I know there probably won’t be another time. I got the camera out, but the video just didn’t do the moment justice. Last night, we drove to dinner with all three girls in the back seat pretending to be robots, and Charlie said “Affirmative” in a robot tone with perfect pronunciation.Ī few days before that, she discovered she can jump in an elevator and shake the whole thing something fierce, which cracks her up.Īnd before that, she put on an old princess costume (by herself) and ran around in circles in the living room, chanting, “I a princess, I a princess, I a princess.” Photo by Jenn Evelyn-Ann Every Day, It’s Something New
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