Not Ready for Their Closeups
I broke down this year and scheduled a sitting for 4yo Drake and 21mo Guppy with a friend who’s a photographer. I can probably count on one hand the photos we’ve managed to take of both of them looking simultaneously happy. Much more typical is one of them in the foreground running away, only one or neither looking at the camera, or one of them hollering in response to some abuse visited upon him by the other one.
We had a very tense morning as I tried to get the boys dressed. Drake’s T-shirt would not stay tucked in. His hair needed lots of spritzing and combing to settle down. The photographer, C, took the boys outside, where they had a good time running around, often near one another. After about an hour, we returned inside, where I hoped to get some shots of them in front of our built-in buffet and stained-glass window. They were having none of it. They demanded snack. After a copious administration of goldfish, they were not sated. They wanted lunch. I tried to placate them by perching them on top of the furniture. Drake took this as carte blanche to climb to the ceiling. Guppy just cried; he’d spotted the post-Halloween candy dish of dark chocolate. Nothing could sway him from his misery. Eventually I just let them have chocolate, which wrung a few sequential grins from them. Naturally, during all of this I was more and more tense as it went less and less well, so I’m sure that didn’t help.
In the end, though, I feel both affirmed, and hopeful. Affirmed that it’s not just me who has trouble capturing the cuteness of my boys at the same time. And hopeful that with all the photos she took, we have a greater chance than ever before of dual cuteness.
Further, I’ve learned some lessons if there’s a next time. One, feed them up before hand. Two, don’t spend an hour outside. Three, don’t put a size 5 T under a size 4 button down and expect a 4yo to leave it tucked in. And finally, hide the chocolate, no matter what time of year it is.