Claps, shoots, and treesus

While Harper and I were at the doctor's office on Tuesday, Hudson learned to clap. J. was playing a little something jazzy on the guitar and, apparently, Hudson had to find a new way to physically manifest the groove inside. Clapping will do nicely, he thought to himself. He is also sleeping so much better at night the past two weeks. Perhaps the two things are related. I took them on Thursday to try to get their picture taken. It was Hudson's first time and he did fine. Harper, however, was NOT interested in posing. The photographer was NOT interested in being helpful either, which, as you can imagine, was frustrating to me. If I could take a decent picture of the two of them by myself, I would not seek out professional help. She (the photog) just sat still and said, in this monotone voice, "ok. smile." This is what happens when you tell a toddler to smile:
They squint up their eyes and do this fake thing with their teeth that in no way resembles their actual smile. You should probably instead do something silly that will make them laugh. Which I would think would be Photographing Children 101, but apparently not. Ironically, as soon as she and her life-stifling lack of energy lumbered away (I use that rather disparaging verb intentionally--she seemed weary and burdened) to see if any of the shots were good (hm, nope) Harper started twirling around to the music, giggling away, and Hudson, caught up in the moment, started to clap and squeal with glee. I almost called after her to come back but realized the futility.
One last thing. Harper has decided that the plural form of tree is tree-sus. I can only imagine she's trying to find a rhyme scheme for the poem she's composing: Jesus and the Treesus.