smile

Talking about a smile made me think of a cute story from a few weeks ago.  Kade and Anika were going to have a picture day at school.  I tried very hard to make them look as nice as possible, did French brades for Anika and all. :)  I kind of started coaching Kade a little bit a couple days before the picture day, not because he doesn't pose nice for pictures but because he had a front tooth that was pretty much ready to come out and was hanging way down so it was really noticeable.  I tried to show him to not do a big grinny smile where all his teeth would show because that tooth would really stand out.  So he practiced a few smiles and I knew it could turn out as whatever no matter what I say or do.  Somehow though, I was totally oblivious to the fact that Anika was taking this whole coaching in and was really thinking about her picture day.  I don't remember saying much to her other then to smile nice when the photographer says so.  I didn't expect much because this was her very first school picture and they really do them quick.  Then I totally forgot about the whole thing because it took a long time to get the pictures back.  Well, the day finally came a few weeks ago when Kade and Ani brought their pictures back.  Kade's turned out very nice even though he showed some teeth and when I look at it it reminds me a little bit of my dad.  The funny and cute part came when Anika came home because she was so excited to show me her pictures and she exclaimed "mommy, I didn't show my teeth!"  It took me a second to realize what she was talking about and as I pulled the picture out of the envelope, she was right.  She made sure her lips stayed tight together and she was so proud of it because she thought that was what I wanted.  I had to smile at her and I think I said something like "Ani, I wanted YOU to show your teeth when smiling." :) It is still a very nice picture of her and I don't think you need to smile big to have a good picture, it is just funny how she purposely posed that way.

Every time I think back to that little episode I have to think about how kids pay attention to everything and they think about everything we say.  Our little Ani wants to make us so proud and when she figures out something is important to do or not do she tries so hard to do just that.  She wants to please us and make us proud so bad and I don't ever want to take that for granted.

As I look at the 2 pictures together I can't help but think about how different Kade and Anika look.  Some kids on the bus kept asking Kade if that was really his sister and I don't blame them.  They really don't look much alike but I kind of like it.  I like the fact that all of our 3 kids look quite a bit different, to go with how different their personalities are.