Little Photographer

I'm taking weekly photos of Aden next to the zebra, just like I did every week during the first year of Tory's life. I love looking back on these photographs to see how much Aden (and, then Tory) grew in a week's time. It's amazing how much (she did, and) he is changing week-over-week (i.e.: 19 weeks, hello little neck!).

It was a lot easier to take photographs of Tory because Andi and I took all the pictures together. He was the photographer and I posed / caught her every time she fell over, or booked it out of the chair as time when on. This time around, I've been taking the photos myself. Well, with the help of my little photography assistant, Miss Tory. The perfectionist in me wants Aden's weekly photos to be taken on the exact day he turns another week older, and Andi's not always around to help with photos on that day. It's ridiculous, but it completely stresses me out having Tory "help" me. I'm performing multiple tasks as I pose Aden, catch him from falling over (little dude has the roundest butt, I swear), keep Tory outside the frame of the picture and bat away any toys she throws into the mix. Usually, I snap a few photos and call it good because I lose my patience quickly.

Anyway, the other day I was taking photos of the kids in the living room and Tory asked me if she could have my camera. It's just a regular point and shoot, not a big fancy one, so I handed it to her. Tory walked over to the brown chair where I take Aden's photo every week and snapped this picture of her little dollhouse figurines. She'd set them up all by herself.

I mean, isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Monkey see, monkey do.

It was one of those parenting moments that stopped me in my tracks. While I've never gotten mad at Tory for "wrecking" my weekly photo sessions with Aden, I do become internally frustrated and stop with a huff under my breath. And really, why? Because I didn't get the best shot of Aden with his zebra on his weekly birthday? How silly.

Little eyes are always watching and imitating what they see. My little photographer taught me a good lesson on this day.