Family Life

My Dad has commented that there are thousands of photos of the first-born, a few photos of the second child, and nothing of the third. That last child grows up thinking he was adopted because his parents don’t have any baby photos of him.

I find it’s actually quite impossible to take photos of the kids once you have more than two. The attempt goes something like this.

I start taking out the camera.

“What are you doing Daddy? What are you going to do? Why are you pulling your camera out?” This from Daniel, 3. “Can I press the button?”

That last one gets Joel, 2, started. “Press button Daddy! Not Dan’l button Daddy. Joely!” The sibling rivalry begins.

I actually want to take photos of Micah (that third, under-photographed child), so with the camera now on the table I start to unfold the tripod.

“Why are you going to use your tripod Daddy? Can I look at the bubble? What are you going to do Daddy? Who are you going to take photos of?” Daniel again.

Both boys want to be at the forefront of the action, and they’re tripping over each other and the tripod to get a better look at what I’m doing. Joel, who’s shorter, is trying to use the tripod as a climbing pole to see over the edge of the table. I explain what I’m going to do, and sternly ask them, “Please don’t bump the tripod.” Micah is oblivious to all the commotion, gently rocking in his car seat.

In the middle of the ruckus I’ve forgotten my camera remote, so I go back to the camera bag to get it. This bag is four feet away but it might as well be in the next room. By the time I attach the remote to the camera I find that the boys have bumped the tripod (again), and Micah is no longer in the viewfinder. Another stern word to the boys to leave the tripod alone.

Now I can take some photos. This is tricky, because I have to maintain eye contact with Micah, smiling and talking gently to him so he’ll smile for the camera. His smiles are fleeting and I have to press the button at just the right time. Meanwhile, Daniel and Joel are leaning in as close as possible (without touching the tripod), pushing against me and talking non-stop. If I forget myself for an instant and distractedly answer one of their questions, that’ll be the moment Micah chooses for a radiant smile and Drat! I’ve missed it!

After a while the two older boys start to get annoyed that I’m not actually paying them any attention, and get more insistent and pushy. I sigh. That’s the end of my photo session with Micah. He was loosing interest anyway.

“Joel press button!” has been the clamor for the last five minutes. “OK Joel,” I tell him. “You sit here and you can press the button.”

I pull out a chair and swivel the camera around to focus on it. By then Daniel has clambered onto the chair amidst loud protests from Joel. He has a point. I had promised him this next photo shoot. But removing Daniel to put Joel on the chair is going to make Daniel quite angry. Joel is used to being pushed around by his older brother anyway, so he won’t protest too much more. I’d wanted photos of all three boys and an angry Daniel is not going to help me achieve that goal. So injustice prevails. Daniel stays on the chair. It’s an unfair world. Might as well get used to it.

Daniel’s sitting on the chair happily pressing the button and taking photos of himself. Joel’s wandering around the chair watching. Cheerful and patiently waiting his turn.

After a minute I tell Daniel it’s Joel’s turn. He gets down off the chair and I lift Joel up and give him the remote. Boy, is that child happy to press the button! By now Daniel has wandered off. His turn is over. Nothing more to see. So Joel gets an extra-long turn. See? Justice is served in the end.

Then Debbie puts the evening meal on the table and it’s time to sit up and eat. This means I need to pack up the camera, fold up the tripod, put everything away, sit the two oldest up in their seats at the table, put on their bibs, move food and drink out of their reach so there’s no pre-dinner mess, and comfort Micah who’s started to fuss because he’s getting lonely. All at the same time.

Making sure I do all the right steps to take good pictures takes fierce concentration throughout the boisterous process. Patiently keeping my cool through it all takes a supreme effort of will. The boys enjoyed the experience and got to finish off with a yummy meal. I got the photos I wanted, but felt quite exhausted when all was said and done. Click the pictures above to see a larger version on my flickr page.

I can sympathize with the disciples. Jesus was involved in a very serious and adult conversation about marriage and divorce, when suddenly some children wanted his undivided attention.

Now people were bringing little children to him for him to touch, but the disciples scolded those who brought them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them,

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 at 10:47 pm. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.