At 2 and a quarter, Harry finds it utterly incomprehensible that he was once a baby. ‘You soooooo funny, Mummy!’ he chortles, with patronising affection,when I venture to suggest that he was once small enough to fit in a Moses basket and slept for 20hrs a day. The notion that he once came from inside my tummy is met with stunned incredulity. I pretend that this is because my stomach is so flat it seems impossible, but this hypothesis in turn causes my husband to giggle with incredulity so I swiftly move on.
Anyway, I digress; the thing is that at some point between about 6 and 9, (esteemed studies show), children are at their most intensely interested in stories about how they used to be and what they did, said and liked to do. I anticipate this phase with mild trepidation because my memory is very unreliable and I know I will fall short when it comes to detail, despite the vividness with which I feel I’m storing the memories away now. So today, Harry and I built a Time Capsule to be hidden in the loft and ‘discovered’ again some wet Sunday when he is about 8yrs old. Packed with photos and information about exactly who Harry is today, it should prove interesting, especially as it contains some challenges and a few pieces of treasure as well. It does, of course, depend on his father and I remembering that it’s up there, but hey, we can at least hope…
Here’s a selection of the stuff that Harry and I put inside….the possibilities are endless.
1. A list of all the things he loves the most right now; foods, friends, toys and games
2. A load of shredded tissue (gotta have something to throw around..)
3. His favourite toy character, at Harry’s insistence (don’t worry, we have another one….)
4. The current brochure and newsletter from the school he’ll eventually go to at 5yrs old, so he can see what all the teachers looked like back in 2012
5. A picture of us – though with some hesitation as I know this will provoke a later critique along the lines of ‘Dad, where did all your hair go? Mummy, what were you wearing??’
6. Footprints and handprints to compare and contrast with then and now
7. A note of his current height, and a challenge to find the marker of this that is shown in the photo (a small carving on a tree in our garden), and to make a new one…
8. And best of all, treasure: a small, corked glass bottle with clues as to where to find £20 of his 2011 Christmas money, which I’ve hidden somewhere in the house… I’m just hoping he works out the clues because I’m sure I’ll have forgotten…
That’s such a lovely idea, and one you will definitely have a positive response from when it’s rediscovered – my children are 13, 9 and 7 and the younger two constantly instigate the “what did we say/do when we were little?” conversation.
The library of photo albums I started keeping from the moment my eldest was born are all arranged in a diary type format, by each picture I’ve written updates on what they said and did. There are drawings, certificates, little interviews we did for fun where I asked them questions about favourite things and their dreams of “when I’m older”. These albums are now well worn as it’s a favourite passtime of all three to look through them, I hope you have as much pleasure from your time capsule
Now THAT sounds amazing (and impressively organised!). It’s made me think I must sort through the box of stuff I keep adding too and actually make the contents into memory books or albums – thanks for the inspiration!
No worries. I’d like to say I’m consistently that organised, but I’m afraid I have to put it down to borderline ocd cleaning impulses when I was pregnant…believe me, it’s long since wore off!
lovely thing to do for your son… i shall have a time capsule for my sons too! thanks for sharing
and thank you too for coming by and taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it!
This is great and so thoughtful! As the youngest of 3 children, my parents were so harassed/ over the novelty of babies by the time I came along that that there are hardly any pictures of me as an infant. So much so, that my brothers manged to convince me that I was adopted when I was about 8! Luckily I was not traumatised by this……
OMG! The million dollar question is; did confirmation of your genetic connection reassure or disappoint you?! Brothers, they’re all the same…
Kate, This is such a wonderful idea! As my daughter enters this phase you describe, I think we will make up a similar time capsule. Thanks so much for sharing this ingenious activity.
Liz