The Kiddie Kandids Adventure

I took Will to get his pictures taken for his birthday. Since I know that he's not keen on the idea of strangers, or wierd people trying to make him smile and do things, I thought he needed a little prepping. So the day before and the morning of, I talked to him about it (always getting a little "No want to!") and was a little worried about how I was going to make this happen.

So, we had a practice round. I told him this was how his pictures were going to be, sat him on his chair and told him to smile and say cheese. Well, as you can see, he is definately cheesin' it! He sat there and said "CHEEEESE" for like 3 minutes (a long time for a 2 year old). So, I was glad I at least got a few cute pictures at home.

After our practice round, we set off for Kiddie Kandids with bribery in hand (Twizzlers). When we got there, nobody had even talked to us and he was already clinging to my neck crying and asking to go home. This wasn't going to be easy.... I thought. So, it was his turn and he picked out a little brown chair to sit on, I sat him on it, and whoa, the tears starting flowing! He was SCREAMING. It was funny because there was a lady waiting for us with newborn twins, and all I could think of was "She has no idea what she's in for with TWINS.... wait until she has TWO doing what Will was doing... Poor lady!"

So I was trying everything, and the picture taker lady was NOT helping. She kept trying to tickle him with a feather duster and talked to him like a baby. I asked if she had any dinosaurs and she said "no" - this was not going to work. I almost gave up, until the weird picture taker lady finally showed Will the screen with himself on it, screaming. He looked at himself, stopped crying instantly and starting performing. I always knew he was a performer at heart. He started waving, saying "CHEEEEESE" just like we'd practiced, showing us his muscles, and saying "can I have a treat?" It was pretty hilarious. So, all our pictures are pretty funny, with his teary eyes, bright red face, and funny expressions, but cute nonetheless....

Next year, maybe we'll forget about professional pictures and go with our homemade photo skills. It's cheaper anyways.