Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Picture this

You may wonder why pictures of my daughter are conspicuously absent from my blog. Well, it's quite simple: she has a love/hate relationship with the camera. That is, she loves to hate it. For the past year she's given me countless frustrating moments as the cute face or activity magically diappears with the appearance of a camera, video or otherwise.

In fact, we have a label for the face she makes when asked to smile for the camera. We call it "Dori face". You know, the blue funny fish on "Finding Nemo" that looks like she has a plastered-on smile that goes from ear to ear, with no teeth showing. Emma would make Dori proud.

So I've stopped trying. In my spare time I think of ways I can explain to her later in life why there's a substantial chunk missing out of her photo album--Emma's Invisible Era.

To give you a classic example of what happens when the kid is within 50 feet of a camera, let me just tell you a little story that happened two weeks ago. I thought I had a foolproof plan: take her down to the Ranch in Laredo, where there's a new batch of puppies. She can't resist the puppies. Then, take her and the puppies down to the lake, and set them by "Narnia Creek", one of her favorite places on earth. Let her casually play with the puppies, and while she's distracted, take a few dozen pictures that are bound to look like one of those adorable ads. It's a perfect plan.

In theory.

In actuality, it went more like this. We get Emma in a dress, load up some puppies in a laundry basket, and head down to the creek, where she proceeds to whine about stepping in something-or-another (we're in the Great Outdoors, after all). Once at the creek, we sit her on the grass, set some cute puppies in her lap, and I start to get the camera ready. I snap 2 random shots. Thirty seconds has transpired. Suddenly I hear "Agh! Agh!" and through the lens, I see my daughter (who is now apparently afraid of the puppies for some strange reason) backing up. My dad and I watch, paralyzed, as the funniest-possible-scenario ensues: as if in slow motion, she falls backwards into the creek. I run to grab her out, and after less than a minute from start to finish, my photo shoot is over. I guess I could've kept trying, but considering she was bawling and covered in algae, I opted not to.

So, if you want to know what she looks like, come see her in person. Otherwise, you'll have to wait about 12 years til I'm brave enough to attempt another photo shoot. In all this, however, I'm grateful for two things. First, the water was shallow. So no children or animals were harmed in the taking of these pictures. Second, one of the two shots I got looked like this:

4 comments:

Krista said...

Adorable :)

Stephanie said...

Hi, Tamber! I had no idea you'd seen my blog! Thanks for reading, and it's good to hear from you. Wow, Bethany actually knows when she's having her picture taken already? You're in trouble! Keep us posted; we can't wait to meet her someday soon.

Anonymous said...

Steph - That is a cute picture. When we see you guys again, maybe a third party can try too. Good luck! Never fear, it may be just a temporary thing. :) Sarah

Stephanie said...

Ok, I know there are at least 2, maybe 3 dear Sarah friends that read this blog. For my sake, would any and all Sarahs making comments please use a last initial? Thanks!