If you’re part of an non-conventional family and about to welcome a new child, finding a baby book is…probably the last thing on your mind, actually, as you have a million and one other things to think about.
But it was really preying on my mother’s mind. She didn’t want me to have to get a baby book with a traditional family tree, one side of which would be left blank, and no spaces to write down the baby’s real family, i.e. the friends with whom I live. So she went searching, and she found me this:
Welcome to the World Baby Memory Book: Celebrating All Families
It seems to be out of print, but it is a sweet book. It does not ask you to specify your baby’s (presumed) gender, and the family page is perfect for a family like mine. Instead of a tree, there are two pages with spaces to list the baby’s family members’ names, their relationship to the baby, and to add notes of anything you want about them, arranged in a column. With that set-up, there’s not even enough room for all of the baby’s family–never mind about an entirely blank page where the father’s side of the family might be.
So I thought I’d give the book a little love here. It’s not without a problem–while most of the illustrations are of cute little animals, there are a few of babies, and I would have preferred that those illustrations not be of only white babies–so it’s not going work comfortably for everybody by far. But it’s something.