“CHEESE!!!!!”

Ok ok I know everyone is probably tired of hearing about our family’s trip out west. But it didn’t seem fair to end the trip reports without mentioning Cragbaby’s newfound perspective – behind the lens of a camera.  Even though he hadn’t seen her in months due to business travels, C certainly hadn’t forgotten his favorite climbing partner, Manuela, and he stuck to her like glue for the entire trip.  It’s a good thing that she’s a beautiful person and I don’t mind him imitating her, because he wanted to do EVERYTHING that she did – which of course included playing the role of trip photographer.  Taking pictures is not a new phenomenon for Cragbaby (in fact, being Manuela’s special assistant even made #4 on C’s Highlight Reel for 2011), but he definitely took his “skills” to a new level on this trip.  Thankfully, Manuela is as patient as she is kind – by the end of the trip, Cragbaby had perfected the art of taking turns.  

The daily script would usually go a little something like this…
Manuela gets camera out of her bag.  C takes notice, apparently from a quarter mile away with eyes in the back of his head.  
C (jumping excitedly):  “Me do dat!!!”
Mommy (a little more even keel):  “Can you ask her nicely please?”
C (this time a little more calm):  “C pease hold dat camera.”   
Manuela:  “You can take one picture, but you have to be very careful and sit with me when you do it.”
Click, click, click.
C (settling in to her lap, with no intention of moving):  “Now Mah-way-wuh’s turn!”  

One feet, two feet, C has blue feet.

Two feet, four feet….

Here come more feet!

And so it would go back and forth all day, except for the brief instances where Cragbaby was sleeping or when we told him that the camera “went night night.”   Although even C could tell that Manuela’s camera was head over heels better than ours, and certainly better than the disposable camera we’d gotten him at Devil’s Tower, he enjoyed practicing his photography skills on different cameras as well.  

The result?  A rather unique hodgepodge of images that have a few overarching themes.  Namely, feet.  As I looked through the pictures, I was amazed as I saw how disproportionate the numbers of “feet pics” he had taken, as compared to everything else.  I’m assuming it’s because C’s hands were too small and uncoordinated to actually hit the shutter button while aiming the camera in an upright position, but regardless of the reason, it gave us all a good laugh as we were combing through the pictures.  It certainly was easy to spot which photos were C’s…which in the eyes of a Mommy of course means he’s brilliant – all artistic geniuses have a distinctive style all their own, right?  

Lacing up white feet,

Ready, set, climb feet!

Once Cragbaby has better fine motor skills and is able to figure out how to operate a camera on his own, it will be really interesting to just let him go and see how he “documents” his day.  I can’t wait to have a window into the world that he sees.  Anyone else have experiences with toddlers and cameras?