I don\u2019t normally pay a whole lot of attention to TV adverts; to be honest, I am a BBC girl at heart, so don\u2019t usually have to contend with them. But I saw one recently that struck a massive chord \u2013 it was from Google, promoting their new Chrome browser.<\/p>\n
It features a child called Hollie, and features actual footage taken by her family over her life so far. The premise is a father setting up an address to email his newborn daughter and then sending her messages over the course of her life. I nearly wept (as, from what I could see from my Facebook newsfeed, did a fair few of my friends)!!??<\/p>\n
My daughter is now 20 months old. I bought one of those baby journal type things in my pregnancy \u2018must-buy-everything-and-anything-baby-related\u2019 phase.<\/p>\n
I filled in a few pages relating to her first couple of months, so I can tell you the first song I sang her (\u201cIf You Were the Only Girl in the World\u201d), the car she travelled home from hospital in (Honda CR-V), how much sleep we got in the first few weeks (very little) etc. All vital information, clearly.<\/p>\n
Then it all dried up a bit. And I am seriously regretting it. I can\u2019t clearly remember the things I want to \u2013 when did she first sit up on her own? When did she first give that infectious giggle? When did she start pulling the cat\u2019s tail? (ok, not so bothered about that last one). I can only remember when she took her first steps because it was on New Year\u2019s Day!!!!<\/p>\n
Anyway, I set up an email address for her in May 2010, just before we held a party for her; I thought it would be nice for guests to RSVP directly to her. The account had lain dormant ever since\u2026\u2026..until I saw this ad.<\/p>\n
I have started to email my daughter.<\/p>\n
Not on a daily basis, but it\u2019s become a \u2018notepad\u2019 for all the things I don\u2019t want to forget. And the things I want her to know when she\u2019s old enough to log on and read them. So it might just be \u201cyou sang \u2018twinkle twinkle little star\u2019 on your own, and I nearly burst with pride\u201d. She\u2019ll probably groan and proclaim I am excruciatingly embarrassing at some point, but given time, I hope she\u2019ll appreciate it, because I know I will.<\/p>\n