Little Dude’s First Mugshot!

Hehe.

Actually, it’s not really a mugshot.

The thing is, my partner and I decided that we’d go explore some of the land that is a bit South of where we are.  Namely, Boston (we were actually hesitating between New York and Boston, but since I’m already going to New York in July with my mom and friend, Boston it is).

Of course, we want Little Dude to get in on the fun, thus, he needs a passport.

And of course, if he’s going to get a passport, he’s going to need his picture taken, by a professional passport picture taker someone who is allowed and trained to take passport snapshots.  Namely, a nice little dude or dudette at the photo section of a drugstore.

‘Easy peasy’, I think.

So I get Little Dude in the car and head on out to my local Shopper’s Drug Mart.  I approach the counter, baby in my arms.

“Hi”, I say cheerfully to the seemingly uninterested clerk behind the counter.  “I’m going to need a couple of passport photos”.

She looks at the baby, then at me.  “Is it for you or for the baby?”, she asks.

“For both of us”, I answer.

“Oh, well, we don’t do passport photos for children under 5”, she says and proceeds to explain that they are too hard to take because sometimes the baby is asleep or won’t look at the camera and they waste 20 minutes to try to take one without success.

I look at my very wide awake and alert baby and then look back at her.  “Oh…OK well, I need one for myself so…”

Once my own pictures are out and paid for, I ask the girl where I can find someone who’ll take baby passport pictures. She suggests WalMart.

Well alrighty then, off I go.

I enter the Walmart supercenter and walk towards the photo center where the lady informs me that they don’t take passport pictures.

*Grrrrr*

Of course, by that time, Little Dude is starting to get cranky (which may or may not be a result of the fact that I maybe made a couple of pit stops between the drugstore and Walmart to get some pajama bottoms for myself and some cute onesies for my son) so I decided to head on home to get him down for a nap.  I could take care of the snapshots after lunch.

Of course, I became wiser during my son’s nap and, once he was rested, fed and changed, I decided to put him on the floor beside his box of toys to keep him busy and call a couple of places to make sure they did baby passport photos.

After striking out again on my first call, I started to get annoyed.  No one seemed to want to take a picture of a baby for a passport.  I mean, what’s the deal?  I mean, I know that Passport Canada is strict in their requirements of passport photographs, but surely they are intelligent enough to understand that a 7 month old can’t understand to not smile, look straight ahead and stay perfectly still for a picture.

The next place I called was as uninspiring as the others when I mentioned that I wanted a picture of a baby for a passport.

“Oh, a baby, how old is he?”, the lady asks.

“7 months old,”I reply.

“Eesh, yeah…that’s a little young”, she says.

*Breathe in.  Breathe out.  You don’t need to take all of your frustration out on her*

“Look lady, this is the fourth place I try.  No one seems to be able to take a picture for a baby’s passport, but he needs one to get his passport.  No one seems to know where I can go either.  So what am I supposed to do?”.

“Well, um…” clearly not thrilled with the way the conversation is going.

“Listen, right now, he’s awake and in a good mood.  Plus he can sit up on his own”, I try to make my case.

“Oh!  Well, maybe we can give it a try then.  But I can’t guarantee that the picture will be accepted by Passport Canada”, she says.

Better than nothing, I suppose.

I strap Little Dude in his car seat yet again and drive off to the drug store.  The lady brings the chair out and puts a box on top of it for me to sit my son on.  I support my son in his precarious position with my  hands under his shirt (because God forbid the passport dude sees a hand supporting a baby on the photo *gasp*) and about a minute later, a flash is followed by a clicking sound.

Success!

(Maybe)

At worst, I’ll have paid twelve bucks for two wallet sized photos.

What do you think? Looks good to me – for a passport picture, that is.

Why oh why did this have to be so darned complicated?