Blogging vs. Journaling

I’ve lately been questioning whether blogging everyday is causing me to forget to document the small details of my life with Kwabena.

Everyday Kwabena does numerous things that brings joy into my heart, and I take a mental note to remember to write it down….somewhere…..anywhere…..so that I can put it in my paper journal that I carry with me everyday.

But I forget.

Instead, I come here to this blog, detailing the bigger picture of what’s going on in our lives….and not documenting the beautiful exchanges that I have with him on a daily basis……things that I am afraid if I don’t write down, they will escape my mind so quickly as if they never existed.

Details about how we’ve spent our days……..details about Kwabena’s mannerisms, and new words he has learned………everything that a Mom hopes to remember about her child, simply because I want cherish every moment and interaction and experience with him.

For example, this morning, Kwabena was whining for me to give him some POM pomagranite juice that he and I bought last night from Costco ($10 for a big bottle–what a steal!!!) Anyhow, he anxiously whined this morning, because I wasn’t moving fast enought to give it to him. When he realized that I was about to give it to him, he joyfully clapped his hands and exclaimed, “YAY!!! I’m happy!” 🙂 It brought such a smile to my face to hear my beautiful baby clap and shout that he’s happy (even if it IS only over some simple ‘ole juice).

Or how he walks around the house humming the theme song from “Thomas & Friends,” his favorite show (well, the ONLY show he watches!). And he actually knows the words! (Even if he does get the lines out of order, he still KNOWS the lines……)

Or how each morning when we leave the house now, he tells me about the “butterfly up there”…….a butterfly that we saw about 2 weeks ago hanging outside the security door in our condo building. I am shocked he’s still talking about it; amazed that he remembered it! I asked him this morning what color that butterfly had been, and sure enough, he remembered, “Green!!”

Or how he developed a painful blister yesterday on the bottom of his right foot, and how he sat on his potty last night with his foot propped up on his knee, saying a very pathetic, “Look” when he wanted to show Mommy and Daddy.

Or how, when we’re lying in his bed reading books before bed and he hears Uncle Genfi (Kwasi’s brother) ring the buzzer, he says, “Uncle Genfi! I want to see Uncle Genfi!” And he pops out of bed, sprints to the door, and bounces into Uncle Genfi’s arms with a very enthusiastic, “HI, UNCLE GENFI!!!” (Last night, he immediately said, “Uncle Genfi, look! Boo-boo!” and showed him his painful blister).

These are the kinds of things I want to remember……..things that will easily slip away from my memory like sand through open fingers if I don’t write them down…….

I just have to be sure that this blog doesn’t replace the journaling that I normally do. There are plenty of things in my life that I want and need to document, which I cannot do here. But in the meantime, I will continue to blog…………..for all of you that appreciate and enjoy having a glimpse into our life.

🙂