Last week was another session of boredom, and I couldn’t help but search for things that could ease it and bring back the vibrance I need to consider my day productive. As I was about to play the movie Dead Poet’s Society on our television, which I have watched more than ten times already, a knock on our door interrupted me in my quest to fix my boredom. Little did I know, the answer was just knocking, and I just had to offer it a chair and kindness.
By the time I opened the door, I was very happy to see my nieces again in the house, for it meant it was now time for weekly bonding. I have already written about these kids in a blog I posted here, and what that blog is about is also similar to what we did last weekend.
My niece and her parents—my eldest brother and his wife—visited us again, and we were all happy to know they were able to come because there were a couple of times they couldn’t make it due to prior commitments. But last week, they were free and we finally met with their kids.
I played lightly with my niece as soon as they stepped into the house. We usually play with their toys in the living room and sometimes watch educational channels for children on YouTube. From there, we spend almost half of our day on TV and the other half napping. It might sound lazy, but that’s the best we can do for rest days.
But on that very day, I couldn’t repeat the same old pattern. Though not boring, doing something new aside from playing during those hours could ease the boredom and unproductivity I felt. Then I had an idea. I checked the camera bag to see if the cameras and batteries still worked since I hadn’t charged them. When confirmed, I instructed my eldest niece to grab an outfit and colorful accessories for a DIY photoshoot—just to entertain ourselves and to have good photos we could look back on in the future.
The first task was to ask my older sister to grab her makeup, even though she wasn’t really good at it. I told her to put a light touch on my niece and add some colorful details to her overall outfit. While she was putting on the makeup, I could already sense that the kid was gradually losing her patience and attention, and the way she moved showed she was annoyed with our activity. I didn’t acknowledge it right away because I hoped she would still participate while I took photos. But I was too ambitious. The truth was the contrary.
This photo marks our DIY photoshoot, and I took it while preparing the camera. Just as I started my trials, my niece lost her attention and began running around the setup. By the way, our setup used only two white curtains for the backdrop and inflated balloons—spontaneous and simple.
I was frustrated while taking the photographs because my niece wouldn’t give me her full attention, which was necessary for teaching her poses as I clicked the camera. Instead of listening, she would run around and try to convince us to play with her while we waited for her to come back to the center and strike the pose we wanted. What started as a few seconds of inattention turned into minutes, and soon half an hour was gone.
You see, children are not always considerate. They are egocentric and self-centered as if they are the spotlight. Fortunately, I know how and why kids behave, so watching my niece act that way simply challenged my existing knowledge—while I tried not to wish for another niece. LOL.
Now, I want you to know I am not sharing perfect photos in this blog but rather those I captured out of pure fortune—even if not of extreme quality, still good enough to share in this community.
Here are some other photos:
They might not look great, but I believe they capture the fun and frustration we had that day. We even dressed her twice just to fix her aura, but she’s the kind of kid who cannot stay still for seconds. She moves spontaneously and actively, which I cannot stop because it is just her nature. Still, it’s important to keep in mind how attention is being practiced—or even mispracticed—so that we know when to intervene and correct behavior.
I couldn’t extend my patience any longer because she just wanted to play and destroy the setup, so we decided to put her to sleep. Of course, we didn’t use magic—she just got tired, and the house was peaceful again.
Then I called our little baby, whose nickname is Aili. I took photos of her, which was a much better experience because she was patient and calm while I photographed her. But I couldn’t relax too much because I knew, in a random minute, she could also throw high-pitched cries and tell me to stop the ritual.
As she was still calm, I took the opportunity to entertain her, and she always responded with a big innocent smile. I enjoyed entertaining her and made sure to capture the moment. I sometimes asked her to sit on the backdrop, but she could only stay still for about three seconds—the shortest time I had to secure a quality photo.
The baby enjoyed it more than anyone in the house, but after a while, I found myself staring at a crying, frustrated baby. That was when I knew I had to stop, because the boredom had now turned into chaos. I learned firsthand how patience is tested when dealing with kids. I need to be more patient and understanding, but I don’t think I’m doing this activity again.
Shen is done. LOL
Since they were all frustrated clients of their uncle, I decided to hand them back to their parents and suggested we go outside to cool off the tension. You could still see the irritation on the eldest’s face in the photos, but luckily, the baby regained her joyful character and started showing us her laugh and dazzling eyes again. So cute, isn’t she?
So basically, in this blog, I am just showing you frustrated photos with a little bit of cuteness. Sometimes, it is in the mundane and annoying days that the best photographs are captured—frozen moments of laughter, silliness, and even cries that remind us of the many sides of life. It is not always in the happy moments that memories are worth keeping, but also in those odd ones that let us experience our humanness through complex emotions.
That is all for this blog, dearest readers, and I hope you felt the silliness of the children, along with my frustration and love towards them. I also hope you enjoyed it. To end this, I say: see you in my next blog, and let’s get to know each other more through the narratives we share as a community. Thank you!