"Dust hippos?"

"Yes, now suck up dust hippos," she demanded.

"They can't be hippos."

"Bunnies live in forests and grasslands. Hippos live in rivers and swamps. If that's a swamp, those are hippos," she declared. "Now suck 'em up."

"I can't do that. Hippos are an endangered species."

"What makes you say that?" my wife wanted to know.

"Well, you don't see too many of them going for second helpings at Golden Dragon Buffet or meandering through park on their unicycles or hailing a cab outside train station, do you?"

My wife looked at me as if I had just said something strange. "That's because hippos live in Africa."

"Oh."

"Vacuum up dust hippos," she added.

"But that's our swamp dust hippos are swimming in. What about our ecosystem?"

"Swamps are wet, forests are dry," she replied.

"What on earth does that have to do with vacuuming under bed?"

"Just take a look under there. Dry. Dry. Dry. That's not a wetland," she answered.

"It's not?"

"No. It's like a dry forest just before forest fire," she responded. "The forest fire your vacuum will create."

This was another unexpected twist in plot. "You want me to set fire to forest of our household ecosystem? That would be devastating."

"Occasional forest fires are a vital element in a healthy ecosystem, essential to regeneration of many species of plants," she recited.

"Really?"

"Yes. It's right there on page 943 of Household Ecosystem Analogies Management Guide."

Reluctantly, I bent down and sent vacuum on its first sub-bed reconnaissance mission. Sigh. Who could have known that my wife had memorized entire Household Ecosystem Analogies Management Guide?

Still, I wondered what hippos were doing wading in our little forest.

5. Storing Time Capsule. Although you may be tempted, it is not advisable to bury your capsule. You are likely to move or forget exactly where it is buried, and contents could be damaged by elements. It’s a better idea to give capsule a special place in your home -- perhaps fireplace mantle or on family piano. Let capsule become a conversation piece as you show it to friends and family and talk about its significance.

CAPSULE CONTENTS

The key to a meaningful time capsule is to make it personal, relevant and interesting. Following are some ideas on items to include and more importantly a few to leave out.

First, it is strongly recommended not to include food, drinks or liquids -- basically, anything that could ruin contents or create a bad odor.

Instead, consider coins, money, stamps, a small keepsake album, baby’s first photos, a video, an audiotape that you recorded for your baby, your family tree and finally a variety of newspapers and magazines. Write a letter or card to your child explaining time capsule’s purpose -- be sure to use acid-free paper that won’t deteriorate as quickly. Cards and photos are an excellent choice, but consider creating them with acid-free paper as well.

You can choose contents that are lighthearted and funny or more serious and reflective. Just remember that you set tone. Your baby’s time capsule is your creation, so have a great time making this personalized and unique gift.

To learn more about history of time capsule and how to register your personally created capsule, please visit All About Baby website.

Nancy Wurtzel is the founder and owner of All About Baby, an ecommerce site located at http://www.allbaby.com. All About Baby specializes in personalized and memorable gifts for children as well as interesting and helpful child-related site content. Ms. Wurtzel has over 20 years of marketing and communications experience. She consults with small businesses seeking to enter the marketplace or grow their existing ecommerce business.