to find it upsetting that I can look at photos of my dc when they were younger but can't actually remember what they were like

[emkana]

is it only me?

sorry i don't understand.what's on your mind

Not at all. DD as a tiny baby is a blur to me. I look at the pictures alot as I feel I need to try and remember more.

It has made me very aware that I need to stop and look at our world sometimes.

I mean that when I see pictures of my children when they were younger I can't remember what they were like when they were that age, because it is too vivid in my mind what they are like now

[sorry am not explaining this very well]

Not just you at all, emkana - I don't remember a thing - just snapshots, from snapshots

That's life I'm afraid

no me too.

Also when DD3 does something new I can't remember DTDs doing it but I know that they must have.

And what is worse - I have identical DTs. The very early photo's I labelled who was who. I stopped when they were about 12-18m cos it was "obvious" who was who. Not any more . Some I know from the outfits. In others I just do not know who is who .

I have videotapes as well - that helps, as they move & speak, but I still don't remember what they were like

I did exactly this today looking at an old photo of DD. I can't remember her being a chubby little toddler at all. very sad really.

When you had babies and asked your parents at what age you / your siblings did things and they said "don't remember sorry it was 30 yrs ago" and you thought hmmmph.

I can't remember what DS1 did when and he's only 2 yrs older than DS2. And if a friend with a baby asks me i think "erm"

"Don't remember sorry it was 7 yrs ago"

thanks for explaining emanka some bits i remember so vividly i am practically there/other bits wee bit hazy

but hey i dont have long to recall.ask me when LO is 10

Emkana, i have three children, and my youngest is 10, oldest 17 and i simply cant remember life when they were small, so your not the only one there!

I cant even remember what time i gave birth to them, which is really sad, but i still love them and when i realised that they were little people and not babies any more it makes the moving forward easier

I understand exactly what you are talking about Emkana - I am the same

Where did my cuddly babies go?

It's reassuring at least that it's the same for others.

I am the same emkana.

I remember my last child as a baby. Very little about the oldest 2 at all. I remember odd snapshots, on significant events, or special days, but not much.

it's very sad. I've often thought I'd like to be able to replay their childhoods - and watch when I'm old and they've left. All that time, all those changes and my memories are so meager

Same here.
I just uploaded a load of old pictures from Dd as a baby/toddler.
Don't remember any of it.

Mine are 12 and 8. I've got a photo of a baby wearing a plain white babygro (so no clues there) in a babybouncer hanging from a door. I know it's one of them but I'm not sure which, they were so alike at that age.

Don't worry emkana.

My mum has four children (all quite close in age).

She has loads of photos of us as babies - but she has no idea which one her children the baby in a photo is!

So I have loads of photos of me-but-also-possibly-my-sister-or-my-other-sister.

She always says she wishes she had labelled them!

You probably will when your kids start having kids. My mum can remember loads about my childhood now that I have DS, the comparison triggers the memories I think.

Same here, especially pics of Dd1.

I did feel grrr when my mum couldn't remember what I did when, so I vowed to not have that situation and write a short piece about dd1 and dd2 roughly every 6mths. Does that make me anal?

SAME HERE!

I think (hope) this is normal
I remember very little about either of mine..particularly baby no 2.I know exactly what you mean Emkana...you can look at pictures but some how not capture what they were like

Is isn't just you.

I sometimes think actually my memory is a series of photos.

therefore I 'remember' a lot about dc1 as a baby, not so much about dc2

DH has been storing our video's onto the pc lately so we have been watching videos of DS 13 and DD 11 as babies and toddlers, it did bring back lovely memories, I am so glad we have them to look back on. Can't believed how well behaved they were

I feel this very strongly. I don't remember DD1 as a baby, and i have very few photos She is 18 now and left home, i don't remember her as a child at all and i miss her. She has moved out, thats great, i dont miss the 18 year old teenage chip on shoulder misery guts, i miss my baby. Thing is, i have DD2, she is 3 and all of a sudden i find myself looking at the ample photos i have and bugger me, i can't remember. I suffered from PND and i remember thinking once, make the most of this baby, she will be gone soon. ITs weird, mind you, im pissed

Mytetherisrising, i think that is just lovely. not anal at all.

I look at both dds and find it hard to remember moments, which I can - like snapshots, but not everything. As you say a child's personality is so vivid now, there is so much to take in each day as they grow, how can you possibly remember everything of how they were then. I would love to have one day back when they were babies and couldn't answer me back.