Mary Virginia has been doing this for a while now — standing on her own — but capturing it has been maybe my most challenging photography so far.
She likes to stand where support (usually my torso) is nearby, and since she’s so close it’s hard to fit her whole body in the frame. Plus, when I pull out the camera, she forgets about standing and wants to grab it. Those two challenges paired with the general contrariness of babies, I thought I’d never get a shot of her standing until prom night when we’d line her up with all her friends and she’d be forced to stand there and smile while I filled dozens memory cards with thousands and thousands of photos because, well, peer pressure.
Then one day, the stars aligned.
Well, they didn’t totally align, I suppose.
If they were completely aligned, my floor would be clean, and instead of daytime TV on in the background, there’d be a rainbow in the distance. And she, a baby who hasn’t taken a pacifier for more than 8 months, wouldn’t be chewing on a pacifier. Most importantly, she’d be wearing one of her 37 adorable rompers rather than caught between her post-lunch outfit change and her pre-nap diaper change.
But, whatever. Now she can get on with learning how to walk. And I can get back to watching The Chew in peace.
