Hammy, Ham, Ham

Lilly did a photo shoot recently for my friend Megan's custom blanket business, Mia Dolce Originals. Seeing all her stuff makes me want to run out and take sewing lessons (with a machine) because I think I would be addicted if I had the skill/time/patience to learn. For now, I'll have to stick to buttons and minor hem work (by hand, what on earth is a bobbin?). There were two days of shoots, and Lilly was scheduled with the group on the first day. I wasn't around for Day 2, but I'm pretty sure getting through the 2 hour shoot was the cardiovascular equivalent of an Ironman for me. Lilly is in the "in between" age - not a baby, but not quite a full-blown child either. The Dreaded Toddler. A 6 month old baby will lay on the blanket and not move, the only goal of the audience is to act like complete fools in order to get said baby to smile. Some tried and true tricks usually work. A 4 year old can be bribed and directed, namely in the form of "if you smile, sit still and listen to the photographer, I will buy you an ice cream sundae on the way home." If you need the immediate response, you bust out the package of M&M's. None of the above scenarios applies to a toddler, at least not mine, because she spent 99.99998% of the time running amok in the school field. I was chasing her all over the dang place, trying to do anything to get her to stay in the shoot area. Plus, it was evening and dinner time, so there was extra crazy involved in feeding snacks but trying to keep hands/face/clothes clean. I walked away apologizing to Megan, hoping to God some of the other kids got her some good shots, but I assumed every single one of Lil' would be a huge blur. Well the photographer, Jane Foster, obviously knows a thing or two about capturing children, because I was shocked to receive these shots from her today Way to ham it up, Kid.

Editor's Update: Here is the photographer's post about the session. Freakin' Cute.