(Warning: I’m putting super cute pictures of Solveig in this post to multitask. I haven’t put up pictures of her in awhile. They have absolutely nothing to do with the written content of this post.)
I took all 4 kids this morning to the “big city” about an hour away to get Elias’ 2 year old pictures taken. It was so crazy around his birthday that I just put it off until now. He was in clean, adorable clothes. He got his hair cut last night. He had a good breakfast before we started out on the hour drive to Penny’s where I had a coupon for 7.99 package. I pay good money for family pictures. For the kids’ portraits, I take the cheapest route that I can. That way I can get them done often and not feel too bad about it. With my new camera, I could probably do them myself, but there’s no way I can even print that many photos for 8 bucks.
Anyway, it was Elias’ turn. We don’t go to the mall often, but I’ve learned the trick to doing it with 4 kids. We just have a single stroller, and I don’t intend on getting a double one as we rarely use strollers out on the farm. When we lived in the city we used a stroller all the time. Out here baby carriers are much more practical. The trick is to put Elias in the stroller, and Solveig in the Mai Tai, and all the “stuff” that comes with such a group under the stroller in the basket, and all of the coats laid on top of the sun visor over Elias.
It works, but let me tell you, when you go to the mall by yourself with 4 kids ages 6 and under, you get looks. No…stares. I got stared at. Like people stopping, turning around, and staring at us walk by. At one of the stores where I was trying on a pair of shoes, the other customer next to me said “Wow you have your hands full!” She was, like the 15th person to say that to me since I entered the mall. I said nicely, that I was surprised to be getting so many stares with all of them. They weren’t being loud, and were listening well. She smiled very sweetly and said, “It’s because everyone is in awe.” That made me smile. She made me feel less like an old woman who lived in a shoe and more like an accomplished mother.
Anyway, we were there for Elias’ pictures. As soon as we entered, Elias didn’t want to get out of the stroller. The photographer was going over background options with me as I was pulling him out, all the while having Solveig strapped to me. Then he started screaming. He wouldn’t go into the studio where the camera was. He just fell to the ground, red faced. He wanted to stay seated in his stroller. He had no intention of smiling, or being anywhere on the pleasant scale.
We tried to calm him down, bribe him, pull him for about 15 minutes when I realized it was useless. He was determined to melt down. I asked the woman if she could squeeze us in later this morning. She said she was booked solid. We had driven an hour to get here. I had a coupon. If he wasn’t going to get his picture taken, someone was, gosh darn it.
Solveig had just gotten her 6 week pictures done and wasn’t old enough for her 3 month ones yet. So she was out, even though she was pleasant and wearing a cute outfit.
David needed his 5 year old pictures. But he needed a haircut badly, and didn’t get his hair cut the night before because for some reason we only had time to do one of them, and so we picked the boy who was getting pictures. Plus he was wearing my least favorite sweater of his.
Silje needed school pictures taken. She hadn’t had a bath in a few days, but she did brush her hair well this morning. I didn’t pack a comb to fix her part, though. Her shirt wouldn’t be my first choice, but it was clean and cute. Well, good enough. “Silje, I guess we’ll get your school pictures done today.”
She was a good sport, even though it was last minute. I got to pick the one that I hated the least for the package, so that was good. Seriously, they weren’t that great. I feel good about it, though. We have now confirmed the fact that it is impossible to go through childhood without at least one bad school photo…even if you’re homeschooled. Maybe I’ll go back and get them redone. Maybe not. I mean, having a bad school photo almost makes me feel like I can cross that off the list of “childhood to-dos.”
I’ve learned a lesson too. The next time one of the kids’ need their pictures done, I’ll have an understudy ready.
Melissa says
February 18, 2011 at 3:19 amI love your take on life. Good for you, Gretchen!
Those stares can be so unnerving, though, can’t they? I often get the daycare question: do you run a daycare?
And I think (but don’t say), “do women who do daycare take all the kids to the store with them? Do they go to the store during the day on a weekday? And seriously–who sends a 15 year old to daycare??!!