My Twice Baked Potato

Last night, my TBP had a rough night of sleep.  His mind was racing so he was awake much longer than he should have been.  He woke up again in the middle of the night and spent the rest of the night in my bed being quite a “bed piggy.”  With the extreme lack of sleep, I decided to let him sleep instead of waking him in the morning at his usual time.  When it was clear that he needed the extra rest, we decided that he should stay home.  Sending my TBP without the proper sleep is too much of a risk.  Instead of attending school, he did home school with math problem solving work, spelling practice, reading, and yes…a bit of “computer lab.”

After a quiet morning, it seemed that this afternoon would be a perfect opportunity to have a “do over” with Santa pictures.  In my previous posts, I shared about the initial Santa picture and the family decision for a repeat.  After an early lunch, we set off for another trip to see Old Saint Nick!

In the car, I started to remind my son about what would happen.  As I spoke, he got quieter.  Quickly I realized, that my prompting was not helping the situation and if anything…was increasing the anxiety.  We hoped that our trip in the middle of the week would find far less crowds than the weekend.  While walking into the mall, we saw that the photographer (same one from photo shoot #1) getting coffee.  Initially we were concerned that we had made the trip for nothing and that today’s hours were different from the weekend shifts.  We waited for the elevator and the photographer saw us and said, “Hey…I know that guy!”  At this point, I’m thinking this could go either way here!

My TBP ignored the photographer and we explained that we were coming back for a retake.  The photographer was extremely pleasant and asked what we didn’t like about the past one.  We explained that there was no smile present in the last one and would like to try again.  He quickly found out that we could take a new one today and send the others back without extra charge.  This was an unexpected surprise since we had planned to just pay double this year.

Our mid-week trip paid off!  There was no one in line and the noise level was much quieter than the previous trip.  The photographer guided us over to Santa and began to ask my son if he would like to stand or sit.  I was sure that he would opt for standing, but he decided that sitting down would be best.  The photographer had him position his hands and feet a certain way.  On cue, my TBP gave him a great smile!  This was the kind of smile that parents love to see with the holes from missing teeth and the oversized adult chompers coming in.

Santa asked what my son wanted and my son spoke about his wish for the Xbox computer system.  The exchange was brief but it was sweet and ended with a candy cane.  At this point, my TBP was feeling very comfortable because he shared his current favorite joke.

“What do you call a fake noodle?”

“An impasta”

Both Santa and the photographer laughed and my son enjoyed it!  This joke seemed especially appropriate with “Santa” and his fake beard.

As a family, it was a great moment.  Everyone felt great about my TBP’s ability to overcome an obstacle.  Initially, he made this trip because of my feelings, but in the end…I think it was his own feeling of accomplishment that made the day a success!