Picture (Not So) Perfect

I took Allison to have her 18 month pictures taken on Friday. I love Portrait Innovations, so obviously we chose them since we always have good luck there.

I am not exaggerating when I say they took 102 pictures. I looked at every single one of them on their big screen. I am also not exaggerating when I tell you that we chose ONE picture. 1 out of 102 that turned out cute. I'm not sure what the mathematical odds are on that one, but I'm pretty sure most people would come away with more than one option to choose from out of 102 pictures. But, it's true...my children are not most people.

For some reason, they are genetically dispositioned to hate having their picture taken in a studio. The ole' stuffed dog duck monkey-tickling-your-mommy trick just never seemed to work for my girls. I've always felt so bad for the poor photographer trying desperately to make my babies smile, only to fail after every attempt. And I even felt worse for me...being made a fool of after pretending to laugh hysterically while another adult repeatedly shoved a stuffed animal in my face.

I struggled with Lauryn's pictures for her entire first year. That was before we discovered PI and instead used Sears or JCPenney. At those places you get maybe 8 poses to choose from. Because my child acted like she was being tortured at every single professional photo shoot, it was no wonder we rarely got "that perfect picture".

So Friday was no different with Allison. She started to cry as soon as we walked into the studio. And everyone knows that blotchy eyes paired with a red nose make for some pretty pictures.

Luckily she stopped crying as long as I was holding her. I had to sit in a chair while she stood on my lap. Again, the top of my head nestled under her chin wasn't quite what I had in mind for her 18 month photo.

And then they brought out the stuffed monkey. I'm not even kidding. The guy waved it in front of her, tickled her chin with it, tickled MY chin with it, and then put it on his head. All the while squealing in a tone of voice that no man should ever use. She sat there like she was watching paint dry. Not even a smirk.

To spare you the long story, I'll just say that I eventually got her to let go of me and walk around, so they were able to get a few decent shots of her. There ended up being ONE picture where she actually looked like she believed life might be worth living. Dare I say, it was pretty darn cute! I don't have a scanner, so you'll have to take my word for it.

And later that night, Lauryn thought she might play photographer with an old camera she found in a drawer. Apparently, she has experienced her fair share of obnoxious photographers. So much so that she has internalized the tricks of the trade.

This is what she did just before she told Allie to smile and say "cheese":



I wonder if they're hiring at Portrait Innovations??