Well I’m not a dream pro ^^ But when I wake up I nearly almost think I don’t know what I dreamt, but when I put my mind to it and begin to think of random things I pick some things up and remember I dreamt about that. It kinda just pops in my head after some seconds/minutes when I wake up. To improve your dream recall I think you should try to think of how your dream developed, try to remember as much as you can from start to end. It’s not enough to remember a fragent and realize you just dreamed. Get the whole picture.
To answer your question… it’s normal I guess. When I wake up and I just take a shower and take breakfast I remember like 40% of the times I dreamed, then it happens spontaniously (so it doesn’t happen spontaneously every time),fragments come to your mind and you remember the whole dream again. But if I put my mind to it there’s a 80% chance I remember most of it. Just concentrate.
Same thing here. I haven’t been practicing dream recall at all recently, but I usually remember one little detail of something which slowly branches out until I can remember nearly the entire dream. Sometimes it won’t come to me until I’ve showered or even the middle of the day. But most of the time, I’ll wake up directly from a dream and still feel worried or anxious about whatever I was dreaming about, which makes it a lot easier to recall.