Ah, it's that time of year. Christmas card pictures, pictures made with Santa, the time for your child to shine. Or....be a completely different child.
Ady has been photographed, or as Joseph calls it "the most documented baby in the world", since birth. She smiles for the camera. She even smiled the night she was born. True story. It was when she was looking at Uncle Austin.
But, now, she's on to me. And the sweet little photo sessions have become of a thing of the far, far past. I can get smiles occassionaly, but staged ones at home fall more under the category of, "No, way Jose!" She is a toddler and is busy. And too busy to smile for the camera. I've had my run and it's been fun :) Look at these pictures of her looking everywhere but at me.....
Almost every time as soon as I put my phone or camera down, she smiles or says "Bye bye!" or "Hi!" She's a stinker :)
I was going to wait and take her to see Santa this coming weekend when we are in Louisville and go with Caden, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a terrible idea. Not because of Caden, but because of the crowds. I knew that the days following Thanksgiving at the mall in Louisville would be nothing short of a trainwreck. Now, I, will be shopping until I drop to get the greatest and "latest" holiday sale. But, my sweet Ady will be nestled snuggly at home with daddy. Crowds are no place for Ady. So, I decided to take her by myself to see Santa today. It began a little like this.....
Haha. I think I was 3 in this picture. Regardless, I was not happy to be in Santa's lap. Ady and I have been talking about Santa for a long time. She has a Santa that goes on top of her (that's actually mine!) dollhouse. I wrapped all my Christmas things (almost done!) last weekend and Santa is on the wrapping paper. I have a Santa sitting out 2 places and she says "ho, ho, ho". I thought for sure she would be thrilled. I should have known better. :)
There was nobody in line. It was glorious. The perks of staying home and taking my daughter at odd hours of the day when everyone else "works". The lady was so sweet trying everything to get her to smile. The very first one she snapped were no tears. Then, she screamed. And I mean screamed. I held her and knelt down and we talked to Santa. She just had tears rolling. It was pitiful. I went over the to desk to view the photo and the more I looked at it, the more I just couldn't order it. She looked miserable. She wasn't crying (remember it was the first photo), but she wasn't smiling. And if Ady is one thing, she's like her mom. If I'm not smiling, I look ridiculous and like I'm mad at the world. Haha. The man was so kind and said we could hang around and get used to him as long as we liked since nobody was there. Bonus! After about 10 minutes of talking to Santa, waving to him, offering him her snacks, we decided to give it another go around. But, she still didn't want to sit in his lap.
They decided to do a little trickermaroo and have Santa hide behind the chair. What a brilliant idea! I was sitting next to her and was trying to make her smile. She gave the biggest smile EVER, but the lady missed it. This is what she got and it is perfect.
Joseph laughed until he cried when I sent it to him. He said it's hilarious and creepy all at once. The sweet man at the desk said, "Now next year, she'll just scream". Haha. And as soon as we strolled by she waved and said, "Bye bye! Ho, ho, ho!". We headed on over to the Food Court for a real treat. A Mommy and Ady lunch date. :) We did some nice window shopping too :) And she proceeded to smile at every single passerby at the mall. Until, I snapped the camera:
She's silly : ) Ady hates, and I mean hates my phone. I try to not use it unless she's napping (which, we all know rarely happens), because it makes her get so angry. And I understand why. It is a great reminder to me that I am entirely too connected and at times I need to focus on what really matters!
Speaking of pictures....I swore I was going to keep this a secret. Not sure how I thought so, since they're so darn cute, but my sweet friend Heather offered up a couple hours last Saturday to photograph our little family :) They turned out FANTASTIC. The best part of all? Ady knows Heather (and LOVES her!), so she did make her smile and laugh.
What she really wanted to do was jump in the pond...
Or play with all leaves...
Or sit in the road and eat the sticks. :)
It's life with a toddler and it is "picture perfect".
