When I sent Margot to daycare for the first time, her teacher asked me to send a photo album (or, as she called it, a “family book”), containing pictures of all the important people in Margot’s life.
The book was supposed to be a kind of comfort object, and a resource Margot could use to practice her social communication skills. At the time, I didn’t know about Pinhole Press (and I was a little overwhelmed by the whole idea of daycare in general), so I did the easiest thing: I bought a small photo album from CVS, and hastily filled it with printed photos of Dan and I, our dog, and some important friends and family members.
Margot absolutely adored this photo album. She loved pointing out our faces, and telling her teachers, and her classmates, our names. It was the first thing she wanted to show us at back-to-school night, and remains one of her prize possessions to this day. However, when the book finally made its way back to me, it was very beat up. the flimsy pages and printed photos didn’t stand up well to the test of time, and several of the photos have ripped, shifted position, or fallen out entirely.
Recently, when I was in the market to replace said photo book, I learned about a lovely little company called Pinhole Press. There are a lot of companies out there that make photo books, and a lot who do a so-so job of it. But when I stumbled across Pinhole Press’s Photo Board Book offerings, I was hooked.
As I looked through the sample offerings, I decided that I could do more than just put together a collection of pictures for my kids too look at. Instead, I could use my favorite snapshots of our time together over the last six months to tell a story of all the positive and hopeful things that have come out of the never-ending crisis that is 2020, both as a way for my kids to look back on the experience, and as a reminder for myself to be grateful for all the good this year has brought us.
The board book template allowed me to tell a story, and create a product that was sturdy enough for my two toddlers to “read” on their own. The templates are beautifully designed, and easy to customize. Once I had chosen the pictures I wanted to include, creating the book was incredibly straight-forward (even for an easily frustrated technology user like myself).
When the book arrived in the mail this week, my children were thrilled. They both squealed with delight when they saw their own faces on the cover, and immediately cuddled up together on the couch to read it. (I think it is important to note here that this kind of peaceful, cooperative play is not always the norm for them…)
My youngest son, Max, is 19 months old, and is in a phase of rapid language acquisition. I don’t think I can fully explain how exciting it was to watch him flip the pages of the book, point to every face, and yell the person’s name to his sister. While much of what he says is unintelligible, even his sister was able to praise him when he pointed out things like “pizza,” “goats,” and “glasses”–words that aren’t normally part of his daily vocabulary, but which were within reach for him due to his memory of the events he was seeing unfold in the book.
Our little board book ends with what has been, for my family, the best (albeit, for me, most nauseating) part of 2020: a picture of our third baby, who is currently cooking away in mom’s belly.
I know that this book will be a treasured keepsake, both for my kids, and myself, for a long time. I also know that it will be far from the last book I make with Pinhole Press, as I am already planning a few holiday gifts for friends and family members.
In addition to their board books, Pinhole Press offers a host of other products, such as photo memory games, puzzles, calendars, and wall decor. It has been such a lovely company to work with, and I can not recommend them enough.
If you would like to create a board book of your own (or anything else with your kids’ faces on it!), visit Pinhole Press, and use code THEPAPERDART15 for 15% off your order. Happy creating!