Both of my boys are another year older! I am now the mother of a 3 year old and a 5 year old. What?!?!
Every May I plan out a shoot for each of the boys. With their birthdays only 8 days apart, the month can get hectic. Every year they fight me tooth and nail (at least to do it exactly the way I want them to), and inevitably I love the final product anyway.
My mother use to comment how she couldn’t believe I could get such great shots of my boys when they were little. Then she was blessed to be present for my oldest’s 2-year shoot. A shoot that required a lot of redirection, changing my own direction, sweat, and toddler attitude. She had a whole new perspective.
This year was no different. I had the idea in my mind. My toddler was having none of it. I threatened no cake to my chocolate loving, now 3 year old. He acted like that motivated him, but I was still sweating by the time I was through, and I got only a few shots of what I wanted. Also, the one moment he decided to cooperate, the sun decided to come out from clouds and through my whole exposure off. Take a deep breath Holly.
Hello threenager…
This little cutie has grown so much! He grew 3 inches in the past year, but he also is speaking so much more, has a great imagination, is a big helper (when he wants to be), recently potty trained like it was nothing, and loves helping take care of his new baby cousin.
He will yell at you if you call him a “big boy.” He is a self-proclaimed “tiny boy” and will never grow up to be like Daddy or even Bubba. We will see how that goes.
The first one is my favorite of his images. Even though it didn’t end up being the image in my head. I was thankful that he was standing up AND looking. Small victories.
The second batch of images shows some of the nice shots I got during his shenanigans. He ended in the shoot with his face buried in the grass. Go eat some cake kid, I’m done.
My now five-year-old…
This past year kind of seems long to me. I can’t imagine why. It just seems so long since he turned four, but it’s so crazy to think he’s five.
Much like his brother, he is either desperate for photos, or DONE. He initially wanted to do photos with me last minute, but once outside, he wanted to run, explore, and play. I can’t blame him.
The first image is my favorite of the bunch. He soon complained that the foot he had up was his balancing foot, and that he couldn’t stand that way for long. Every time I snapped a photo or two he was off and running, and I was chasing him down.
The next batch of images show the slow decent into me giving up. First we had to stop because he needed to pee. So off came the suspenders, down came the pants, and he just peed in the field. It’s grandma and grandpa’s field. I thought I could get a funny one of him peeing, but he was peeing AT me, and I was too far to get around him before he was done.
Then he was done with suspenders, but I wanted to try the barn image one more time. This time I gave in to his “preferred balance leg.” Of course there was a building that limited my angle, a crazy shirt, dangling suspenders, and a 5 year old that was done. I told him to go explore.
And THAT, my friends, is how I photograph my kids. Heh. I plan, I stress, and then it just is what it is! And grandmas usually love it no matter what.
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