Picture Time.

I thought I'd write this out for posterity since it was one of my first frustrating experiences with our 2 year old acting like a 2 year old in public. This might be a story that only a mom would care anything about, but I thought it was kind of funny.

I took Kenna to JC Penney to get her "18 month" pictures... when she was 21 months old. I only take her for professional pictures once every 6 months or so, and take her to JC Penney since they have such great coupons that make them really cheap! Frivolous, I know, but these kiddos grow so fast! Kenna had been getting over a cold, so I probably should have known better than to take her at that time, but I didn't want her to get any closer to 2 than she already was. So I picked out 2 dresses I loved, and even splurged $2.50 on a new pack of hairbows since her newborn ones look too tiny for her head.

In the past, Kenna has LOVED getting pictures taken. She flirted with the camera people, played with the cute little props, and we end up with super cute memories of her little personality. Well... this time started out ok. I tried to time it in the morning around nap time when she would be the in the happiest mood. It was a Saturday, super busy at the mall, and she had fun watching all the other little kids who were there to have their pictures taken.

The pictures kind of tell the story for me:
This is fun, right? Then I suggested the rocking chair since she loves hers at home. Good idea, at first.
Then she realized there were other props we were not letting her have... enter meltdown #1. Suddenly she wanted to do anything in the room except take a picture. She saw the props closet. She saw a broom and wanted to sweep. She even tried to take the camera away.
We decided to regroup for a minute- I changed her dress and they changed the background. We tried to get Kenna to sit on this super cute little box (very fall-like) and we let her pull out one or two new props of her choice.
Almost a good idea, except now we have a tiny bit of strange hairiness in the photo (a little stuffed lion). We tried the box again, and she LOST it. Meltdown #2. I had tried everything at this point. I had taken her right outside the room for a little talk about attitudes. I was having to wipe her nose every 10 seconds from all the crying and that only made her madder. I had bribed her with fruit snacks. I was sitting right next to her and she wanted me to hold her. The poor photographer was practically rolling around on the floor, trying every trick in her book.

Finally I said, "oh just take a crying one. Maybe it will be cute."
Cute, and kind-of funny. At least we have the memory right? And I'm mostly distracted by the cuteness of the bare feets anyway.

I forget what happened next (I was exhausted at this point) but she took one last picture and it was ADORABLE. Exactly what I wanted:
And when I saw it on the computer screen to order the prints? Giant snot bubble. Classic!

I guess that's what I get for torturing my kid for 30 minutes in the name of "memories." I certainly got a memory didn't I? Hard to believe, but if I take her for another picture in 6 more months, we will have a second child in the photo! Maybe she'll be so distracted by her baby that we'll get a good one.