Let's learn something: Take a daily picture

Background image by Shawn Campbell.

When my son was born, my mother had lots of requests. One of them was to take a picture of her grandson every day and send it to her.

At first, I thought it was such a pain. Babies don't pose well and it seemed like a hassle to even get myself dressed, never mind take a picture of my little man. But it was such a small request, that I complied. So, every day, I posed my son and snapped a picture to send to her.

Some of them were a bit blurry. There were lots where he was laying in his pack-n-play or barely awake in his crib. A few featured bits of my body as well: my arms, legs or the shoulder he was sleeping on.

But something wonderful happened: By his first birthday, I had a record of my son's first year. I was able to see his daily growth on a scale that I couldn't imagine before. So, thanks, Mom. I'm glad I listened.

Since then, I still take frequent pictures of my son, but not every day. (They would all be blurry; that kid is going places.) But it might be something that I try again soon. I know of one parent who takes her child's photo every day before school. Not just for the record it gives her, but as a precaution. She says she will always have a recent photo of her child and a description of what her child is wearing should she ever need it. Hopefully, she never will. Hopefully, she'll just be able to enjoy all those daily photos for what they are: Her child growing up before her very eyes.