Darling, Bud, and I went to the mall to get Bud’s 2 year pictures. The last time we got professional photos was a year ago. It was difficult, to say the least. He was unhappy and I wasn’t able to be more than an inch away from him. The best shot we got was of a teary-eyed Bud sitting with the most forlorn, all be it beautiful, look on his face.
This year, I really wanted to try for cute props, something special we could not do at home. They brought out a little white bench and the big square with the number 2 on it. He was ok…until the flash went off. Every time the flash went off, he would get scared, cry, and cling to me. The first few times, I could get him comfortable again, but after that he knew it would be back and had a hard time forgetting. They kept calling his name to get his attention. I had to explain that he does not respond to him name, but that barking, sneezing, and coughing may work. Bless their hearts if they didn’t bark and fake sneeze at my boy to get a shot, and they didn’t even act like it was weird!
The first time he looked up and they were able to get a shot, they both clapped and cheered. Oops. I forgot to tell them that they could not cheer in unison. He loves praise, but only from one person at a time. He freaked when they cheered. I soothed him again. They took my advice and worked with our unique needs.
Next, they decided to change the backdrop. They pulled out a fake wooden floor that was made of wallpaper material. It had a seam down the middle, so it took two sheets of this wood floor paper to cover the ground for the shot. They put out a teddy bear and kept trying to get him to engage or notice the bear. What did Bud do? He noticed the seam in the floor. He barreled right through that teddy bear to get down and pull that seam apart, over and over.
While we were selecting the photos we liked, Bud just paced, across the studio and back, over and over. They thought it was funny how fast his little legs with his little short steps could go. After, I let Darling call the shots since she was such a great big sister that day. She waited patiently during pictures and watched him while I selected the package. She got a special treat (manicure set she loved, getting too big!), and we stayed and played at the play zone for hours.
In the end, we were able to get several really sweet shots. Was he exuberant or even smiling in any of them? No, but they were precious. They worked with us and our needs and it was a successful and we all left happy. I hope the photo shoot proves to be an analogy for our life. We might not do things like everyone else, it might not be perfect, but we make it work, and we are happy.

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