Smile, @#$&*%!!!

Our good friends recently pointed out to us that we haven’t had a family picture taken in a while.  And that’s true – the last family picture we did that included all five of us was taken in September 2010.  Rerun’s changed a little since then.

So, I finally got a appointment lined up at our usual photo studio, and I arranged it to be the last appointment of the day yesterday.  However, it was still pretty early, because the studio closes at 5 pm on Sundays and the last appointment is scheduled for 4 pm.  I knew it would be tight, but I thought we could manage.  So, I hustled Rerun off to his nap right after church.  And he didn’t fall asleep.

Not a good sign.

Of course, then he did fall asleep, and we had to wake him up.  He was not happy about being awakened.  But I hoped we could feed him a quick snack and get him happy.  Well, he wouldn’t eat the snack, but he did calm down.

I had talked with Ane and Tad about how I wanted them to smile nicely and behave, and if they did, I was willing to take them to Barnes & Noble and let them each get a new book.  This made Ane happy, but Tad was holding out for a trip to the LEGO store.  When I reminded him that he had no money to spend there, after he used it all to buy his newest set, he told me he just wanted to “play there.”  They do have loose Legos to play with, and the computers.  I told him we would see, IF he behaved.

Well, when we arrived on time for our 4 pm appointment, the photographer told me that they were running 10 minutes behind.  I used to work at this particular studio (before the Webmaster and I were even dating, when I was a poor college student), so I do understand.  And there had been a large family who had just had portraits done, and were still waiting to see their pictures.  Still, we didn’t get started until at least 4:20, and the Webmaster thinks it was closer to 4:30.  By that time, Rerun was in full cranky mode.

He started fussing and crying the second we stepped into the photo studio to actually take pictures.  It didn’t matter that I was holding him – he just wanted to fuss.  He did this during his two-year-old pictures, too, but at least then I was only having to deal with one child, not three.  Ane was perfectly cooperative, but Tad wanted to keep watching “Toy Story,” which was playing in the waiting area.  We had to drag him away from the TV, which set him off.  And then he refused to stand or smile.  I finally coaxed – or threatened him with losing his treat, take your pick – him to stand and smile, but by the time I had Tad on board, Rerun was screaming.

I finally gave up after six shots that took 15 minutes of torture.  Of those six, only one was tolerable, and it was still bad.  After the Webmaster and I stared at it for a few minutes and finally decided that it wasn’t a picture I wanted to look at for at least a year on our wall, I conceded defeat and scheduled another appointment.

Tad went off the deep end when he realized there was no trip to the LEGO store or the book store for him this day.  Ane was huffy because her brothers had spoiled everything when SHE had behaved.  And Rerun was perfectly happy once we left the studio, which irritated me.

We’re going to try again Saturday morning, when people have full stomachs after breakfast and aren’t going through post-nap crankiness.  And we’re trying to convince Grandma to come along to “entertain” Rerun by getting his attention from behind the photographer.

And if that doesn’t work, I might just Photoshop a happy kid – or two – into a new picture.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2012 at 12:53 am and is filed under Autism Adventures, Children, Mommyhood.
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