Light up a child's life!

I will never forget my grandson's reaction (albeit delayed) when I gave him a photo album for his fifth birthday.  I had filled the album with photos from a week-long visit he had paid us earlier that year...memories of a trip to the Seattle Children's Museum, visits to the neighborhood park, swimming in our local pool, and rides at the Seattle Center Fun Forest.  As he opened my gift in the midst of other, more exciting gifts like Legos, trucks and games, he set the book aside without looking at even the first page.  "Oh, a book", he said as he reached for the next wrapped package.  I thought to myself that his appreciation for such a gift wouldn't come until he was a little older.  Later in the day, after all his gifts were opened and his mom and I were in the kitchen preparing dinner, he ran to me with the book in his hands.  "Look, Grandma," he said, "this book is about ME!!"

At that moment I knew that I had given him a special gift, and he had returned a special gift to me in the form of his smile and excitement.  He just recently turned twelve years old, and since that day seven years ago, I have made several albums for him.  He also has made his own album of photos from a trip he took with us to Yellowstone National Park.

The very first book I made for him was an ABC book, with photos of him and the people in his life.  I also interspersed scrapbooking stickers among the photos to make each page colorful, fun and educational.  For instance "M" was for Mommy and Matthew (photo of Mommy holding him), Messy (photo of him with a face covered with chocolate cake), and Motorcycle and Monkey (both stickers).

Children love photos of themselves, and presenting them in a book is one of the best gifts we can give them.  And it lasts MUCH longer than another toy!