Today is my little boy Oliver’s 2nd birthday. I can’t believe he’s two already! Mind you, when he was two weeks old I thought, ‘I can’t believe he’s two weeks old!’ ha ha. I decided for his 2nd birthday that I would dedicate a full day to photographing him. You may think because I’m a photographer that I have all these photos of my family but I don’t….and I am constantly feeling tugging guilt about this. I have the tool at my disposal and I honestly don’t use it as much as I should. So I thought I’d make up for this lack of photos by spending from sunrise to sunset with just Oliver and my camera and let me tell you it was so worth it. Not only was it worth it to have a truckload of images to remember my son at this age but it was worth it to actually SPEND the day with him. I’m sure I’m not the only stay at home Mom who finds they’ve passed through an entire day without actually ‘seeing’ their child. And by this I mean, you were with them the entire day but there was making breakfast, cleaning up, going to the store, naptime, meeting with friends, dinner and bed and throughout all of that maybe you forgot to get down and play with your child. Hey, I’m the first to admit this happens to me more than I may like. So this day was special in so many ways to me and I think if you have the time and inclination it is such a great way to capture your child as they are – the laughs, the tears, the little things. Maybe it’s weird, but yes I did want to remember what Oliver ate for breakfast when he was two and what he wore after his bath and what his little legs looked like stemming from his diaper. I have a bad memory (like terrible) and I know I will forget these things and now I have it documented so in twenty years seeing that he had peanut butter and banana toast will probably make me bawl like a baby. I took a LOT of images that day but I couldn’t fit them all into the slideshow so here are some of my favourites and the ones that tell the story of his day the best. Please turn on your speakers, I’ve chosen Jack Johnson’s Upside Down song because it seemed to fit so well with my little guy. Here are a few lines from the song that I thought spoke so well to a two year old:
And as my mind begins to spread its wings
There’s no stopping curiosity
I want to turn the whole thing upside down
I’ll find the things they say just can’t be found
I’ll share this love I find with everyone
We’ll sing and dance to Mother Nature’s songs
I don’t want this feeling to go away