I get it!

So I’ve been thinking about the whole “no camera needed” thing for taking pictures.   I think I have some arguable points that a camera is clearly needed for pictures.   At least most pictures.  I trust Momma enough though to know she wouldn’t purposely try to confuse me with nonsense.   So I tried all week to take pictures with my mind.

I stared at my cars.  I stared at my trains.  I tried blinking.  I tried staring, blinking, and then blinking really fast.   I tried jumping while blinking while staring.   This made Lyla laugh a lot.  It also made Momma nervous.  I’m pretty sure she was taking a picture with HER mind of MY attempts and filing it somewhere under questionable.  One time she asked me if I was feeling okay.  Honestly, I wasn’t!  I was confused, frustrated and little worried about HER!

I decided a good night of sleep might help if Lyla would allow it.  (*Sidenote:  Lyla is the worst sleeper in the world…that whole “sleeps like a baby” phrase…well, from where I sit very tired, baby Lyla doesn’t sleep.)  That night I did actually fall asleep early in the comfort of Daddy’s arms.  That, by the way, is the best.  Ever.  Sometime in the early morning hours though, I woke up scared, and ran into Momma and Daddy’s room.  I walked over to Daddy’s side of the bed, just like I always do, and searched for the comfort of his arms.

Only Daddy wasn’t there.  Instead, some woman sat up and said, “Hey sweetie, want to come in bed?”  I did the only thing I could- I fled.  Where was Daddy?  Who was that woman in his spot?  What was happening?!!!  I threw myself on the hallway floor and began weeping.   Then those arms picked me up and hugged me.  Aaaahhh- Daddy WAS here.   “What happened mister?  What’s wrong?”, he asked.  I looked past him after calming down and noticed Momma sitting on the bed searching my face for an answer.

Oh.  I get it.  Momma was the woman.  I was just confused because I had taken a picture with my brain of where Daddy sleeps and where Momma sleeps, and they had switched places.  Without telling my brain.    Okay- it was possible.  You can take a picture without a camera.  Got it.

In the morning, when the sun was waking up, I crawled out of bed and found Momma and Lyla sitting in the other room.   Momma was rocking Lyla and doing that singing thing with no words.  Lyla was sleeping.   I just watched.  Momma looked at me and smiled.  And I smiled right back.   It was the happiest picture I’d ever seen.  So I took that picture.  I didn’t use a camera, but I don’t think I used my mind either.   I used my heart.

Related articles

• Nate’s Notes: No Camera Needed

Momma takes lots of pictures.  No surprise there.  I’ve totally accepted this as much as I have had to accept that eggs don’t bounce (oh bumpers), that Lyla is staying for good (*sigh*), and that kitty food is for kitties and not little boys (hey- don’t judge me…the package said organic).  Momma usually has a camera attached to her like a piece of clothing or a fashion accessory.  Here is something to think about though.

One day I caught Momma watching me and Lyla playing with books and cars.  She was staring with that usual goofy smile that makes me smile back.   She told us we were her “I love you’s” and that she was taking a picture of this moment.   I waited for her to get her camera, but she just kept smiling that goofy smile.  I looked at her…at the camera across the room…and back to her.   It started to make me nervous, all this smiling and no camera-getting.   So I jumped up and ran to it, but she stopped me.   After laughing a little, she told me that she didn’t need a camera for this because she was taking a picture with her mind, and tucking it away to remember.  Uuhhhhh…..  Taking a picture with her MIND?  Like superhero stuff?  Tucking it away?  Like she and Daddy tuck us in to bed? Wait, wait, wait.  Some strange stuff was happening here.

After a lot of blinking, a big sigh, even bigger eyes, and a big quiet, I just gave in to the complete confusion.  EVERYTIME Momma and Daddy talk about pictures, they have cameras.  EVERYTIME!!!  They even insult me with “toy cameras” to “practice” picture taking.  And now Momma is telling me she doesn’t need cameras!!???   The confusion was becoming too much, so I just whimpered instead.  Momma misunderstood this for whining and told me to use my words.   I’ll give her some words.  I have 427- eleventeen words to give her.  But all I could come up with was more blinking.

Who ever heard of taking pictures with your mind??!!!   I need to let this bounce around a little in my brain.  I’ll tell you in a little bit what I come up with.  Pfff….pictures with your mind. Pfff…no camera needed.

It gets darker sooner now.  I swear Momma and Daddy are putting me to bed sooner, even if they won’t admit it.  It’s like just because the sun has an earlier bedtime, I have to too?  No.  Let me rephrase that in toddler speak:  NO!  No no no no no.  Anyway, besides the sun’s earlier bedtime, I’ve noticed the leaves turning those pretty colors again…the ones that make you feel warm- the reds, yellows and oranges.

Last year at this time I was just learning colors.  Now, I can tell Momma about the leaves, their colors, that they are falling to the ground, and that they don’t taste good.  I even get to try hiding Lyla in them by covering her all up with the leaves on the ground.  Tee hee.  Just kidding, I would NEVER do that to her.  Or would I?  Tee hee.

It’s hard not to notice all the leaves and their warmth because Momma stops at every tree for pictures.   And if we aren’t doing that, we are looking at the leaves on the ground.  Momma says we live in a tree house.  Sounds cool, but I’m not buying it.   I do know there are trees all over that drop leaves and acorns.   Some of our leaves are prickly, some are brown, some are yellow, some are red.  Sometimes the acorns drop on us or the puppies!    When the leaves fall on the ground you can kick them around, taste them, cover your baby sister with them…okay, just kidding about that last part.  Tee hee.

What’s strange is that very often, when I’m about to eat the leaves or dirt, or when I’m covering Lyla with leaves and dirt (like I would EVER do that), or when I’m trying to feed leaves to the chickens, Momma yells, “Leave it!”.   Um…yea lady, there are leaves.  That’s what I’m trying to play with here so just move along.   Besides, Lyla likes the leaves…she told me.   So I keep doing what I’m doing and Momma stares at me, looking upset.   After just one more, pretty, red leaf to cover Lyla, I save Momma the trouble, look her straight in the eye and say for her, “Leave. It!”.

Okay, I’m 2 now.  It’s time to start getting serious about what my options are for the future.  Awhile ago, I admitted that it wouldn’t be so bad to take pictures like Momma does.  After all, you get to see things in a different way, like a whole new world, when you look through a camera.   For you other kids out there, it’s kinda like when we get to start facing forward in our car seats.   You see trees, birds, flowers, and buildings that you didn’t before.

Now, because I’m only 2 and Momma, even Daddy, are constantly exposing me (ha ha) to the world of cameras and taking pictures, I don’t have many other choices on the list.   I know I like cars…a lot.  I like running… a lot.  I like animals…a lot.  I like books…a lot.  But just because you like something, doesn’t mean you can put food on the table with it.   So, for now, photography can stay at the top of my short list.

Of course, I’m noticing that it isn’t just about taking pictures.  Sure, the field adventures are super fun.  We get to see new things and learn new things.  I’m even starting to figure out what Momma will take a picture of before she does.   After all the fun, Momma sits on the computer for a gazillion hours.   When I want her to read a book, she’s loading pictures.  When I want to build a tower, she’s working on photos so they are straight.  When I want to run, she’s getting rid of blurry photos.  Pff…see, even big people take blurry photos.  And you think it’s “cute” when I do it!   When I want to race cars, she’s putting all the door pictures together, or all the animals, or the benches, or the clouds together.   I have mad sorting skills now so I’m really helpful, even if she tells me, “no pushing buttons!”.    Then, just when I think she is done, she starts naming and numbering each picture!  Whaaatttt????

And it doesn’t end there!   When they are named and numbered, she puts them on the spiderweb…no, site…no cobweb…no …. WEBSITE!   When they are there, she adds even more words.  Always with the words.  She tells me she has to add “key” words.   So, like with my cars, she says, “car, cars, race cars, toy, toys, wheels, metal cars, moving toys”.   I don’t get what all those words have to do with keys.  Maybe she means the car keys?  Hmm….well, I AM only 2, so a lot of your big people stuff still doesn’t make sense.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that there is way more to Momma’s work than just taking pictures.   It take a lot of time!  More time than I thought it did, and more time than I want it to.  What is the point of being at home if you can’t play all the time!????!!!  Yea…I figured you had  no good answer.   Lyla and I will have to work on a new daily schedule for her… I have many many ideas!

Today I’m 2.  Momma and Daddy and everyone else seem pretty happy about that.  To me it’s just another day with my cars and books.  I don’t feel any different.  I don’t look any different.  Trust me, I checked in the mirror…for a long time.  Have you ever made faces in the mirror?  It’s so fun!  Anyway, I guess it’s cool because I got some new cars, a book, some new pajamas and sixty-seven-eleventeen money buttons for my piggy bank.

On the television this morning while Momma was trying to find my train show, I noticed a lot of people were sad on different pictures.  “Oh noooo!  What happened?!  Boy cwying…”  I said to Momma.   She caught me staring at it so she snatched me up and hugged me.   She told me a story about buildings and people who got hurt and couldn’t be here anymore, like some of the people we love in our family have gone away too.  She told me about superhero people who tried to help.  She said some of those people were like my Uncle Brett and Uncle Josh who drive fire trucks.  It sounds like a lot of people got hurt and a lot of people needed many hugs and loves because of what happened.  That does seem sad.  Momma said this happened on the same day I was going to be born on, but many years before I was born.  That is why people talk about it this day.

After the story, I felt like hugs a little bit more, so Lyla and I stayed on Momma’s lap.  I guess people will never forget what happened that day.  I guess good things happened too though because it sounds like when people were scared, everyone helped everyone to try and make it better.  That seems like a nice thing.  That is what I’m going to remember.