Document the Little Things
As my oldest is finishing 5th grade and his limbs continue to get longer and lankier, I have been reminiscing about my previous life with preschoolers. While I am so glad for the stage we are at, I can't help but look back with sadness and wish I could go back to that time with what I know now. I want to soak up the tiny details. The chubby thighs, fat little toes, the way he would draw circle after circle on a piece of paper for twenty minutes straight. I wish I could go back and document the little things. Yes, even me, the photographer. Those first years of parenthood were full of ups and downs. When you are in the midst of the most wonderful change in your life, you are sleep deprived, stressed, and a lot of times an emotional and hormonal mess. When my son was 9 months old, crawling and learning to pull himself up at the coffee table we found out he was going to be a big brother. No, not planned at all. I definitely wanted another baby, but not quite that soon. I spend the first 6 months of that pregnancy trying to hold my food down (not successfully) and as a speed bump on the floor. No, seriously, I would lay in the opening from the family room to the kitchen and doze so I would wake up if he decided to venture beyond the room. Speed Bump!! To make things even more fun we decided to rip out the entire back of our house for a first floor remodel...in the middle of a Chicago Winter...while I was pregnant. So...I was a little overwhelmed, not feeling well, just trying to hold things together.
So lets go back to reminiscing. I was remembering how much my oldest loved his trucks. My mother-in-law would buy him these incredible Bruder trucks. He got his first one when he was about a year old. That trash truck was about the same size as him. He opened the package and hugged that trash truck the best he could (his arms wouldn't reach around). He insisted on sleeping with it for the first week. It was hilarious seeing him laying in his crib with a truck the same size he was. He was a late walker but would sit on the back of that truck and ride it around on the sub-floor (remember the remodel). He rode that thing for about 2 years. Guess how many photos I have of that. ZERO. I have NO photos of him playing with that truck.
I can't go back and document that time. I think this is one reason I am so passionate about documentary photography. My boys will tell you that I did make up in number of pictures what I missed during that period, but nothing can give me back the images I missed. It is those little details: the chubby hand holding onto blue bunny by the ear, the way he curled in his bed sleeping (same position he sleeps in now by the way), or when he would turn all his trucks over and spin their wheels for an hour, and how he insisted on 'helping' in the kitchen every chance he could get. Those are the details you want to revisit for a lifetime.
Let me help you document those little details. Story telling sessions can be fun for the whole family. Instead of sitting stiffly in a field in clothes the kids are dying to get off their bodies, we spend the day doing something your family loves. Do you love hiking? Lets go on an adventure and I will capture your little ones running and playing together, your family interacting, dad carrying Jr. on his shoulders, the picnic of your favorite treats. Maybe we document a regular day in your life. The little ones just rolling out of bed, playing with their toys while Dad is dealing out pancakes. Lets capture the important little details of your every day life.
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