A First for My Girl

Rhetta's entire life she has never looked at a camera. I have dozens and dozens of pictures of her smiling toward the camera but I have had to trick her every single time. I used to make silly noises and she'd turn and smile * click *. I'd focus, hide behind a doorway, sneak around and say "Peek-a-boo!" * click *. It really worked well that first and second year. Year three was all about making her laugh one way or another * click *, * click *, * click *! This year, year four, has been the most frustrating of all. She insists on being behind the camera so she can watch her hand on the LCD screen on the digital camera. A director in the making. No number of "Look at Momma!"s have had any affect on her except to draw her attention to the camera itself.

Tonight we were carving pumpkins. I tried everything I could to get her to look at me. All my old tricks didn't work and my new ones flopped. I got so frustrated I just said, "Would you please look at the camera and smile, Rhetta?" And she DID! SHE REALLY DID!