CAN'T STOP KISSING THAT BABY

Several families share a picnic in the park, full of affection.

As the day begins, Momma ices a cake in a warm, modern kitchen while a dog snoozes nearby; in a shadowed back bedroom, another parent attends to a sleeping tot. Spare and repetitive verse calls for a melodic read-aloud as Momma heads over to the crib: “She can’t stop kissing the baby. / Can’t stop, / just can’t stop. // No, she can’t stop kissing the baby.” Outside, the couple share a snuggle with their child as they walk a dog, a bicycle, and a stroller along a verdant boulevard. Meanwhile, the bouncy verse continues (“Oh, you’ve gotta stop kissing that baby”) as another couple take their infant to a cafe. The characters vary in skin tone; their hip hairstyles and comfortable-looking clothes make them broadly relatable—and provide a playful, stylized counterpoint to the at-times forceful sweetness of the text. A variety of happy families move through this idyllic neighborhood, watching a soccer game, buying flowers, and taking a turn on the park’s swings before gathering at a picnic table. It’s a meal full of activity, so it’s no wonder the baby from the beginning—now sporting a birthday hat—seems to be asleep in Momma’s arms as they head home. “Very best mommas!” the unseen narrator proclaims. “They never run out of those kisses.”

A singsong paean to the cuddly days of early childhood.