That perfect moment...

I am often asked by moms if I know how to get their child to look at the camera and smile.  I'm sorry, I don't have that super power!  If I did I would surely use it instead on getting my child to sit still in church or to stop pulling down all the shoes in Stride Rite!  Or, the mother of all wishes, on getting her to behave in the grocery store without the help of food bribes!


I have a toddler myself, and I know that children often have a mind of their own and won't do what you want no matter how much begging!  


So I, as a mom (and teaching helped too!), have developed a different kind of super power: PATIENCE!  I sit and stalk my child, camera in hand, while she is playing like a tiger stalks its prey.  

I take shot after unsuccessful shot; 

some where she is turning her head away, 

in some her eyes are half closed, 

and some shots don't even have her in them as she falls at the last second!

❊ ❊ ❊

And then, when my patience finally pays off and I get the beautiful photograph I had been waiting for, I rejoice and reward myself by hanging it on my wall so smile at forever!

I may not be able to get the perfect posed shot very time, but when I pull out my camera to capture my toddler, I know I will always get the real her.  And that, after all, is what I am after!