Why David Didn't Smile

Here is David's 11th birthday picture, which I had taken this afternoon. His actual birthday is a week from today. Now, I can already hear the questions; specifically, I hear my mother's-in-law voice echoing in my head, "But why isn't he smiling?" I'll tell you why David isn't smiling.

First of all, he is sort of smiling. David has never liked smiling with his teeth. He thinks he looks dorky. I think he looks very nice, but he won't listen to me. So, most of my pictures of him are these teethless poses. He was not in a good mood when he got his picture taken today. He had told me months ago that he wanted to wear his Hawkeye jersey for his birthday picture, which was just fine with me. So today he went to get dressed and was distraught that he had no black shorts or jeans. I did not realize black bottoms were a requirement for this picture. He informed me that he wanted to look like an Iowa Hawkeye football player and thus, he could not wear blue denim bottoms - they must be black. I told him that was too bad since he had no black jeans or shorts. He was not happy and tried to convince me that his off white shorts would be the next best thing. I told him to think again. I tried to convince him that the look we were really going for was Iowa Hawkeye football fan. I pointed out that he was not wearing a helmet, shoulder pads, or tight gold pants so there really no way he would be mistaken for a football player anyway. There was no appeasing this kid. He was upset. We finally got to the studio and he hissed at me, "Well, I get to pick the picture!" I agreed. By this point, I was ready to throttle the birthday boy and I probably would have agreed to letting him wear black and gold nail polish for his picture if it would make him let go of the whole black bottoms thing.

So, we then did the picture. The photographer attempted to coax him into revealing his teeth, but David kept his mouth firmly clamped shut. I finally asked him why he was being so surly and wouldn't smile and he growled, "Iowa Hawkeye football players don't smile!" I knew I didn't dare laugh, but I sure wanted to!

So this is what we ended up with. He did take a few better shots, but he wanted this picture because it makes him look "tough." David is anything but tough. He's a chocolate coated marshmallow bunny most of the time, but if it makes him feel good to look at this and think he's got what it takes to ram through the defensive end of Ohio State someday - then so be it.

And that's why David isn't smiling!