First off, a big shout out to the folks at Little Tikes for sponsoring today’s post! All opinions are of course still 100% my own. A couple years ago, we had some professional photographs taken of our new little family. Rowan was just a chubby little four-month-old who couldn’t yet sit up by himself and was sprouting a tiny faux hawk (so cute!). He stayed where we put him, smiled at flashing musical toys and our silly faces off camera, and the whole session was rather stress-free. The photos were taken in early October with beautiful fall foliage, and our images were nothing short of stunning.
Fast forward two years and we now have a nonstop GO toddler. Seriously, this kid does not sit still. Ever. Ok, I take that back. Unless he’s sleeping or Wallykazam is on tv, Rowan is in constant motion. He’s also becoming quite…opinionated. Yep, the Terrible Twos are alive and well, folks. That makes the thought of scheduling another professional photo session in the near future rather daunting.
So I thought, “Hey, why don’t I just do a DIY photo session??” Yeah, we can do it all ourselves and Rowan will behave and always smile and look at the camera and the whole experience will be one the entire family will relish! Uhhhh, nope. That did NOT happen. Yet another great idea with not so great execution. Nuts!
Despite my best effort, Rowan quickly proved me wrong: a giant leap into a puddle ruined his nice outfit, constant scattered showers made setting up a tripod risky, and our forced smiles would make this highly orchestrated photo op pointless. But the fall leaves were so pretty and my frequently-traveling-for-work husband was in town, so I didn’t want to waste this opportunity!
So, a quick change of clothes for Little Man and I decided to throw our picture perfect family photo dreams to the wayside!
Why does everything have to be so choreographed and planned out to be deemed worthy? Everyday life is good, so capturing the joy in those moments should be a priority too! Instead of forcing a stuffy and posed photo session, let’s just have a fun ACTIVE one! Let Rowan do something he truly enjoys (in this case, riding his “Blue Bike”) and just have an enjoyable walk around the neighborhood….and capture some nice images along the way. Perfect!
Perfectly Imperfect Fall Family Photos in the Neighborhood!
The Perfect Fit 4-in-1 Trike!
Like I mentioned, Rowan LOVES his “Blue Bike.” It’s a Perfect Fit 4-in-1 Trike by Little Tikes and it is actually way more than just a bike. I wish we would have gotten this for him a long time ago because it grows and adapts along with him. And he’s totally obsessed with it.
The Perfect Fit 4-in-1 Trike has four stages: It starts out as a tricycle that the parent pushes and steers, then as the child grows, they can start the pedaling motion but the parent still handles the movement and steering. As the toddler continues to develop, the safety bar can be removed so they can now handle the steering, until the last stage, which is where the parent’s push handle is removed and the child now pedals and steers all on their own.
So basically, it goes from a really cool stroller to a learning ride-on to a full tricycle….you gotta love a kid’s toy that you can get some serious mileage out of!
- Stroll (9+ months)
- Learn (12+ months)
- Pedal (18+ months)
- Trike (36+ months to 5 years)
Rowan is almost 2.5 years old, so he’s in the third stage right now. He hasn’t quite conquered the whole pedaling thing yet, and he honestly enjoys when Mom or Dad does all the manual labor….I mean, who wouldn’t like to sit back and enjoy the ride?
It’s really easy to disengage the pedals from the wheel so they don’t automatically spin as the wheel turns. You just slide the lock on the front wheel. Once Rowan fully learns how to pedal and can power the trike on his own, we’ll just adjust this setting then he’ll be off!
We can also easily adjust the seat as Rowan grows too. No tools required!
Our Perfectly Imperfect Fall Family Photos in the Neighborhood!
Now neither myself nor my husband are anything close to professional photographers. We’re still fumbling our way through manual mode on our DSLR camera, or more typically just our iPhones. These images would probably never grace the pages of any fancy shmancy magazine, but I still love them.
Because they’re real. And us. And they capture our family at this moment in time. Even if that includes a trike, giant yellow bike helmet, and neon green shoes. ;)
The beautiful fall colors and fallen leaves around the neighborhood provided a great backdrop for our pictures though….that certainly didn’t hurt!
And what is it about storm drains and puddles that pull little boys towards them like magnets?? I swear Rowan MUST stomp (or in this case, ride) through every single one he sees. And since he controls the steering on this trike now, guess where we headed every time?
Dad’s the fun one who likes to pop major wheelies! Something which Rowan surely doesn’t mind.
Like I said, no pro-fesh-ioh-nahl photographers here, so we got a lot of shots that were far from Kodak Moments, like this one:
But it was worth it to grab some great ones like this. :)
Thanks so much for stopping by!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Little Tikes. The opinions and text are all mine.