crying babyIn my baby book there's a picture of my older sister feeding me rice cereal and one of me chilling naked on a blanket showing off my amazing ass. That's about it. If one were to deduce anything about me from the few photos from the time I was born up to about 3 years old, you'd think I like to eat (true) and that I'm proud of my butt (eh). Had my fun-loving, humorous mom known about the book Yeah That Happened: My Terrifically Terribly Toddler, things may have been different. I might have had 150 photos with accompanying descriptions about some classic family stories, like the night I had projectile diarrhea in a restaurant high chair, or the Sunday I took off all my clothes in a church pew.

Yeah That Happened is kind of like the anti-baby book. Instead of celebrating all the cute things your baby's done, it celebrates all the ... not-so-cute things. How cute is that?

Author Erika Ehren explains:

Any parent living in the real world knows those precious firsts and oh-so-adorable milestones that are too cute for words are only half the story. No kid is that perfect! They're messy, fussy, wild, and sneaky, but you love them all the more for it. That's one of the reasons I created the 'Terrifically Terrible' baby memory book, to remember those toddler years. This is a baby album to record those moments that might be trying at first, but will eventually prove to be hilarious, and hopefully never forgotten.

Fair enough, Erika, fair enough. With slots for photos under categories like "Potty Training Troubles"; "The Worst Night We Never Slept"; and "Most Expensive Thing Ever Broken," there's plenty of room for all your child's missteps.

I think this book is an awesome idea. The only thing though is that I don't really understand why the good and the bad need to be separated. That's a look of scrapbooking! But the best thing about Yeah That Happened is that it can be used to inspire your teen to use birth control. "Look what you were like at 2 years old!" Then show them a photo you've filed under the "Biggest Mess Ever" category of them screaming their head off after painting a wall with nail polish. Because I've heard toddlers do that.

What do you think of this new kind of baby book?

 

Photo via lisachafferphoto/Flickr