Mr. Santa

The kids and I ventured off to the mall on Monday to meet up with Jayne and Dane to see Santa. All morning long, I was talking to Zach about seeing the big guy in the red suit. I was telling him that he had to tell Santa what to bring him for Christmas, that he had to be a good big brother and set an example for Sophie, and that we just needed one picture. He actually seemed okay with all of this. He agreed to take one picture, but he didn't want to sit on Santa's lap, he wanted to stand. I felt very optimistic.
Well, we get there and luckily there wasn't a very long line. Side note: Thank you Jayne for taking us early. If not, I would have been there on the weekend with everyone else, waiting till the last minute. Okay, so we are third in line and I am still coaxing Zach. This is when he starts to change his mind. GREAT!! He wouldn't budge from the stroller. I tried everything...I will take you to see the animals in the pet store, I will buy you a cookie, I will buy you candy, please Sophie doesn't want to be by herself in the picture, Santa needs to know what you want for Christmas. Nothing worked. And I didn't want to hold the line up for the other mothers. So Sophie was by herself. Now I had to worry about her being scared and crying in the picture. But to my amazement, she was a very good girl. She didn't smile, but at least she wasn't crying. Good job, Sophie! That's my girl! I'm sure there will come a time someday when Sophie will say, "Hey Zach, remember when I had to take a picture with Santa all alone because you were scared?" :)