During a trip to the zoo when my son, Nakoa, was 2 months old, my dad sat him down in the coils of a bronze king-cobra statue. I snapped a shot, and the next time we went to the zoo, I snapped another. Now that he's 5, we have a nice little collection of Nakoa-cobra shots: He has a few inches over the snake now, and the pictures show off his personality more every year. You can bet I'll be posing him with it as long as he'll let me.

Great family traditions can start anytime, even when your baby's too little to know what's going on. Some ideas:

Watch them grow

"Each spring we plant a tree for our little boy," says Margie Anderson of Fairview Heights, Illinois. "The tradition started when he was just a few months old. As he's gotten older, we've been able to match the tree type to his personality (like a weeping willow when he was a crybaby!) and let him help choose. It's neat to look around the yard and see how much he's grown by looking at the trees." Not enough room for trees? Pick a color for your baby and plant a different perennial each year.