I made an appointment with a studio to have my 3-year-old's pictures made. I like to commemorate each passing year that way. So today was the day. I had his outfit already picked out. I just had to get my boy to comply. Even though the shirt I chose was one of his favorites and in his favorite color (orange), I worried that my son would exercise his three-ness and refuse to wear it.

I think they can smell anxiety because, sure enough, my sweet little fella decided there was no way in the world he was going to wear that shirt today. We spent a good 20 to 30 minutes in negotiations. It was a balance between wanting to get my way and not wanting him to be too upset to take good pictures. He won.

I had wanted him to wear orange since that's his favorite color, but of course he insisted on a green shirt with his orange dinosaur socks. Nice. Not quite what I had envisioned, but at least we'll be able to look back and remember his stubbornness.

So we made it to the studio, and my son did pretty well for the pictures. He's just really bad at smiling naturally for the camera. He either ends up squinting and showing his teeth or just looking sad. The woman working there was nice, but she was not very good at getting my child to smile. Fortunately, I managed to tease him into enough smiles to get some good shots.

After she finished taking the pictures, the woman told me we could walk around the store for a bit while she uploaded and edited the photos. When I returned, she was on the phone. With tech support. Because my photos disappeared. She was hoping they could retrieve them, but showed little confidence. She suggested we could go home, and she could call me if and when they retrieve the photos. If they could not retrieve the photos, we would need to come back and do it all over again.

Needless to say, I was all for getting this whole process over and done with. I suggested we just go ahead and re-shoot since we were already there (and my son was dressed and still happy) and there were no other customers waiting. So we got it done. The second set of photos did indeed upload after a few moments of dreadful hesitation, which had us all holding our breath.

I made my package selections, receiving an extra discount to compensate me for the inconvenience, and we were on our way home. A mere two hours after beginning the whole process. Two and a half hours if you count the clothing negotiations.

Was it worth it? Of course! When my photos come in, I will have official documentation of Age Three and that cute little impish grin. Never mind the fact that I'm really bad at hanging up photos in my home. Or mailing them to relatives. Yes, the pictures may actually end up sitting in the envelope for a terribly long time. But at least I will have them. A captured moment in time.