I’ve been following along with a photo project at Practising Simplicity: A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014.
I take pictures of my kids every week — almost every day — but this is one of the few portraits. This photo captured a unique moment and made me pause.
An hour before I snuck into my parents’ room to take this photo, David was screaming and writhing in Tom’s arms because of that big, beautiful, luxurious bed. It’s not his bed, didn’t you know? And HE DID NOT WANT TO SLEEP IN THAT BED. I always have to work for naps — we have a nap time battle almost every single day — but this one was especially loud.
As soon as Tom calmed him down and closed the door, David didn’t make another sound. It was so quick that I was suspicious, and when I checked on him I found him silently rifling through a stack of gifts my mom had stashed away for Mary Virginia’s birthday.
Eventually he fell asleep, because even explosive and mischievous little boys need rest.
I don’t know why I love this photo so much. Maybe it’s seeing a toddler in a bed that’s obviously not for him. Or the contrast of the moments surrounding this photo — the tantrum that, eventually, faded into nap time. Or maybe it’s because this is a rare side of David. We have a thousand photos of David in his element, and this is not his element.
Whatever it is, it’s one of my favorite images from our weekend. Maybe even one of my favorites from the year.
I think there’s something cozy about it being at grandma’s house too. One of my favorite things to do is to give my kids baths at my mom’s house over the summer. There’s something about her bath tub that reminds me of spending time at my grandma’s house as a kid and I think, this is so simple, but just being here is fun!