You’ve heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words!” This picture, though not very high quality, is one of my favorite baby pictures of Kaleb because it’s one of those pictures that tells a story without words.

In fact, the picture makes its own point better than I can ever explain in words. Undoubtedly, I should just keep my “thousand words” to myself, and let the picture tell its own story.

Since ‘”words” are what I do, I’m going to offer an explanation, but in much less than a thousand words…

This picture is one of those pictures that just happened in the moment. It wasn’t planned. Twenty-one-month old Kaleb liked to imitate his Poppy. Five-year-old Kaleb still does.

But, this particular picture is burned into my brain, etched on my memory. And every time I hear or see the children doing something bad that looks or sounds a lot like me, it flashes to the forefront of my mind and sears my conscience.

It’s like a sign pasted across my rather large forehead, “He Learned It From You!”

Since I’m the only adult role model in the home, I guess I have to accept responsibility, though grudgingly, for much of their bad behavior, especially if it looks or sounds a lot like me. But, do I really act like that awful behavior they are doing or say those ugly words they are saying? Surely not!

Now, here’s a few of my other favorite toddler and baby pictures of Kaleb and some other “thousand word” (or less) lessons I’ve learned from him.

Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses (or African violets). Life comes at you pretty fast and if you don’t stop and savor it every once in a while, then you’re going to miss some really important things.

The day this picture was snapped, we were waiting to go into a restaurant and I was waiting impatiently, of course. But Kaleb and his cousin Laney used the waiting time to observe the colorful flowers in the garden outside of the restaurant.

But just looking wasn’t enough. The two eighteen-month-old toddlers had to smell every pretty flower. So they waddled from flower to flower smelling them, providing several endearing photo opportunities and making the long wait to get in the restaurant a memorable experience in “cuteness!”

Getting “egg on your face” (or even strained carrots) isn’t so bad. In fact, looking silly is funny.

You gotta learn to laugh at yourself!

You just can’t take yourself too seriously when you’re so doggone cute…

Kaleb (and Kenzie, too) was a happy baby, always smiling, always enjoying life. And if he got some food on his face (and chest and arms) along the way, then so much the better.

Just something else to laugh at himself about!

More kissing! Always accept kisses no matter where or when they occur.

You can’t have too much kissing!

So you’ve got to be prepared to give or receive kisses no matter the moment!

And no matter how slobbery or painful…

We certainly need more kissing from the babies. And we certainly need to kiss the babies more!

So, these pictures and the many, many others I have collected over the years express many life lessons I have learned from the babies…toddlers…children, and in ways that I could never put into words.

These pictures tell the story of two little lives that have taught me, who has already experienced so much of life, how to be a better parent, how to be a better person, how to live a better life!