the mall

So- we survived the picture outing. I talked to Henry about it for several days- "Monday there's no school, and we're going to go to the mall and get your picture taken." Then Monday morning I dropped the bomb about the Disney Store. "If you do a good job at the picture place, then we can go to a store that's full of Disney stuff."

("Doing a good job" is kind of a vague instruction, but I didn't want to be too specific. If I said "you need to let the photographer take your picture 5 times" or something like that, then we'd have to count how many were snapped, etc. And I wanted to give him an expectation that was realistic- so we didn't have to run screaming from the mall. I told him he needed to be a good listener and cooperate.)

We had to discuss that for a little while. "You don't want to go to the picture place! You want to go to the Disney Store first, then go to the picture place! You like to go to the JC Penney picture place." That one surprised me- that he knew the name of the last place we had a family picture taken (in November of '04) and it made me laugh that he was saying he liked it, since that (like every other attempt at photo-taking we've ever endured) was a miserable experience.

Henry doesn't do well at photo studios. The silly things that the photographers do, in an attempt to make kids laugh, really freak Henry out. Those places are usually crowded and hot and full of stressed-out parents and crying kids. And this one was located right in the middle of the mall.

But I wanted to get Tommy's 2-year picture taken. I have totally dropped the ball with him as far as documenting his life in professional photos. And I had this fantasy of the boys wearing their matching maroon turtlenecks and Kate wearing her pink sweater, and we could mail them out for valentines.

I think I must be the only mom in America who doesn't take her kids to the mall. I honestly don't think I've ever taken either one of the boys to the mall in their lifetimes. It just doesn't sound fun to me. I think of shopping at the mall as an activity one should do just with other grownups. So, anyway, Henry and Thomas were both pretty excited about the mall. (Except Tommy kept calling it "the map" as a reference to Dora the Explorer, I guess.)

The photographer had this feather duster-type thing in his hand, and would go "aah, aah, aah, UGH!" and bonk himself, or me, in the face with it. That made the kids laugh the first couple times, but then it was too much for Henry. The photographer would say "aah..." and Henry would clamp his hands over his ears and yell "NOOO!" That doesn't make for a real attractive photo. You know how most families have several different poses to choose from? We just had one decent shot. Oh well, it makes my decision easier. Thomas didn't really pose very well for his individual pictures either. After we got a couple taken, he just started running for the door. Over and over. So we ended the session. I got a few good pictures and will try to scan them and post them here unless that's hugely illegal?

Things went better at the Disney Store. I forgot that Power Rangers are a Disney thing now- so Henry went straight for the Power Ranger stuff. The woman at the checkout was really nice and put the Power Ranger items in a separate bag for Henry to carry. He was excited about having his own bag! I told her that he has an Autism Spectrum Disorder and was really interested in Disney things. I was pleasantly surprised because (instead of having that uneasy look that some people get when you tell them) she said "oh, really? What school district do you live in? I have a friend whose daughter is on the spectrum and she really likes Disney stuff too. He's doing a great job." That little conversation made me feel very good for some reason.

And another "maybe I'm autistic too" experience- Tommy and I were playing outside last night. He was having fun, but I was kind of losing interest in throwing a ball around. Then Henry wanted to come out and join us, which is exciting, as he usually isn't interested in being outside. And he wanted to pick up sticks and pine cones. Cleaning up the yard. Now that seems like a worthwhile reason to be outside. I don't know, I could just really relate to picking things up and putting them in a yard waste bag. I must be old and losing my imagination. Or maybe I'm autistic too :-)