School pictures

J's first "school" picture

So J is almost 2.5 years old, and can you believe that this is his first "professional" picture?? I feel kind of guilty about that. However, it's not like I don't have a literally thousands of pics that I have taken of him stored on the computer, displayed around the house, posted to FB, and compiled into photo books. J has been my favorite subject to photograph. Pretty much since day one he has been a little ham. Always quick with a smile, looking right at the camera, and known for chasing after me once I have the camera out. Still, I was a bit nervous about this picture. For one it was going to be taken in his classroom at school, with big flashing lights, the furniture in disarray, and their daily routine thrown. They used his classroom for pictures for another group a couple of months ago and it stressed him out a bit. Secondly, getting those awesome pics of J hasn't been as easy lately. As I said before, in the past he has always been one to look at the camera and give a big smile. Lately that hasn't been happening so much. He is now more likely to look away or to just ignore the fact that I am trying to take his picture. I know that this could very well a typical 2 year old behavior, and possibly a passing phase. I hope so. I treasure all of the beautiful pictures I have of J, and look forward to capturing many many more smiles.
The day of this picture I brought him to school with the little order form filled out and told his teacher to just do their best. She asked if I wanted to stay and that they could do his picture first. Sure! So I took off my coat, put him up on the little step and backed up to make a fool out of myself jumping around and trying to get his attention. I was impressed with how well he did. I half expected him to cry or to try and get off of the step. Instead he sat there like a little model and looked around. He did knock over that red crayon a couple of times, but can you blame him - it was pretty tempting ;) And that little tan blob on the step near his feet is the toy potato he insisted on holding when I brought him up there. Everyone ooh's and ahh'd over how cute he was and we were all amazed at how long he sat there. In the meantime I was pretty much jumping up and down, singing his favorite songs, and trying to coax a little smile out of him. I am very pleased with the end result. I actually wish we were able to pick more than one pose. There was a cute one of him blowing a kiss back at me and one of him clapping his hands when I was singing "If you're happy and you know it".
This day was just another example of how J continues to surprise me. And yet another reminder that I need to relax. I get myself all nervous or worked up about a situation, and J sails through it with flying colors. And leaves me with a pretty cute picture to boot :)