He starts to laugh before he understands what laughter is.
I try to explain the feeling using numbers.
And he answers with joy.

He wants to know what everything is.
So I tell him.
And when that’s not enough,
I tell him more.

I’d been waiting to take this photo since our first doctor visit. At nine months, he sat up on his own — curious, calm, and glowing. The light found him. I already had the camera up.

“Every day, I study him like I’m preparing for the biggest test of my life. And I am. One day, he’ll ask who he was before he could ask — and I want to have something to show him.”

He said Da Da. We smiled, we cheered — and slowly, we became a conversation learning to speak for itself.

One stroller. One baby. Zero preparation. It started with confidence and ended with a poop stain in the crook of my arm.

I didn’t set out to start a blogcast. But when my son turned nine months old, the idea took shape — a space between stories, parenting, and reflection.

Created by Brock Mills — a Black fine art photographer — AROUND YOU is a board book that blends art, learning, and representation in a way that's anything but ordinary.