I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Best Face

I haven't submitted pictures to the I Heart Faces link-ups lately, mostly because I've been too lazy busy and preoccupied with baby stuff. But I couldn't pass up this week's theme: Best Face of 2011.

This is one of my all-time favorite photos of Little Z. She was in the shopping cart in the parking lot at Costco, waiting while Daddy unloaded all our goodies into the car. She's wearing her "monkey backpack" (it's really a kiddie leash, although we didn't bother with the leash part.) And her 'pink hair' hat (she views the yarn braids as 'hair,' and so she views these types of hats as wigs!)

I love how the wind is flicking her hair around, and that impish grin just gets me every time!

This photo was submitted to the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com

 

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Friendship

This week's photo challenge at I Heart Faces is Friendship. I sifted through a lot of smiley group shots with Z and her "favorite" cousins, since when I think of the word "friendship" in relation to Z, I think of those three silly girls together. There were shots of them splashing in a wading pool. Shots at various birthday parties. And shots of them all trying to fit onto the same tricycle at once! But the one that struck me the most, was of Z and Pilu, blowing bubbles one morning while Tually was at preschool. Z doesn't consider Pilu to be her "friend" (in fact, whenever I'd mention that we were seeing them, Z would invariably point out "I only like Tually. I don't like Pilu.") But they sure get along great! Tually is 15 months older than Z, but Pilu is only 8 months younger, making them a closer "match," age-wise. And actually, now that she's 3, Z is warming up to Pilu (2.) Now, whenever I say we're going to see Tually, or going to Tually's house, Z always adds "and Pilu."

At their ages, most cooperative play is really just parallel play. That is, doing the same thing near each other, rather than sharing a single toy, or playing house together, for example. And this photo is a perfect example of their parallel-play friendship. These two get along fantastically with their own set of crayons and paper, or their own pile of Play-Doh and tools, or, in this case, their own bottle of bubbles.

I love the intense concentration they each have, totally oblivious to their surroundings, and to each other. But only really good friends can enjoy being near each other without some kind of interaction. Good friends, enjoying the day, side-by-side.

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces weekly photo challenge

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Water!

This week's challenge is to have water incorporated into the photo. I chose a shot taken two years ago in Oregon, on our one and only vacation since Z was born. She was a little over 13-months-old, and had a hard time toddling around on the sand. After we got closer to the water, she ended up toppling over, which put the kibosh on any more beach time that evening!

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - A Touch of Whimsy

This week's I Heart Faces Photo Challenge theme is "A Touch of Whimsy"

I wanted to find a photo that captured both a whimsical look, as well as a whimsical feel. She loves dressing up, so I knew that those pictures would be a great place to look. As always, my light quality is poor, and my background leaves much to be desired. Ah well. My camera is a P&S anyway, so I don't have high expectations. [P&S means Point and Shoot... not POS... although it's that too.] She woke up cheery one morning and wanted to play dress-up. So she's wearing her "Wedding Princess" hat (I used to work at a mall costume jewelry boutique and obtained a lot of stuff for dress-up "on spec." (ie: before having kids, much less a little girl.) Purple Dollar Tree fairy wings, a tutu and a sparkly pink headband (in disguise as a "sparkky neckace") complete the look.

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Bright and Vivid

This week's I Heart Faces Photo Challenge theme is "Bright and Vivid." Well. Nothing's brighter and vivider than her fairy "butterfly" costume, but all my pictures of her in it are crap. She's either making a hangover face, a funny pose or just bad composition or location/lighting on my part. But this one of her last October, getting ready for our MOMS Club Halloween Parade at a local retirement community just blows me away.

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - From a Distance

This week's photo challenge is "From a Distance." I took this photo at a beach we stopped at on a whim. I happened to have a few sand toys in my car from a recent trip to a park with a sand pit. She was heading out to get some water to make a puddle back where we were building her sand piles castle. I was fairly far away, and had to max out my zoom to get this close.

I like that it caught her mid-step, and that you can kind-of see the look of concentration on her face as she was trying to find the best spot to stop and get water. She didn't want to take off her boots, but she didn't want to get them wet either.

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Flower Power

This week's photo challenge is flowers (faces optional.) 

These were taken 2 years ago (almost exactly - taken 5/18/09!) when Z was almost 1. We went to the little park within walking distance of our house. I took a whole bunch of pictures of her playing with the weeds flowers in the grass.

Hmm... I wonder how this tastes...

Hrm. Not so much...

Maybe this part tastes better...

Betrayed!

Here Mommy! You try it. It's delicious! No, really...

 And my favorite...

There's even flowers in it! 

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Motherhood

There were a bunch of nice photos of me and my baby (mostly sleeping, some where I actually had all my lady-parts covered!) but they were all taken by my husband. I wanted to find a softer looking one with the both of us, taken by me. [Which is hard. Mostly shots taken in a mirror!] I found this one, from when I was doing shots of various parts of her body while she napped one day. No flash, which is why it's orange-y.
To me, motherhood is about having a child, rather than about being the female parent. And when I picture it, it's always the soft, fuzzy images. Rather than the scruffy, sleep-deprived, stain-covered, angry-faced reality!

I chose this one because it has my arm curled lovingly around her, and her little hand is grasping one of my fingers. Symbiosis. Softness. Unconditional Love. Motherhood.

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge 

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Soft and Sweet

This week's I Heart Faces Photo Challenge theme is "Soft and Sweet."

While I find my daughter to be both soft and sweet, to the unbiased eye, she's really more Scruffy and Sweet. Most of her faces captured by my camera are goofy, has closed eyes, or she looks drugged. But this smile was just the sweetest thing I've ever seen. She had found a Potato Bug in the yard and had it running around on her hands. This kid loves bugs. In fact, she wants her 3rd birthday party theme to be "Beetles, Bugs and Butterflies." But they're usually too small and quick and wily for her to catch. So this moment was especially sweet for her.

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge