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Preschoolers and Passport Pictures…Good Luck!

It’s that time again….five years are up, and we need to renew our passports. No passports, no trips to Canada (and that is not going to fly with Grandma! Hi Mom!).

Passport renewal for Pierre and me is pretty straight forward. Take the pictures, fill out the forms, pay the fee, send it all in. Not hard, right? Ha! Not so simple…..see, we live in the U.S., and we need Canadian-sized passport pictures. Surprise, surprise, Canada does not use the same picture template as the U.S. Hmmm…..wrench in the monkey-works. Thankfully, I have a very smart husband who found a photo shop (thank you Google) that specializes in passport photos of all sizes (any Canucks in our area reading this? I’ll email you the address). Problem solved.

Since Pierre and I were getting our photos done, we thought it was high time to get the boys their Canadian passports too. So, pictures, forms, fee…right? Not so fast. Turns out, the boys need proof of Canadian citizenship first (makes sense), then Canadian passports next. Ok. I know, I know, they are four and three years old; this should have been taking care of ages ago. I need to move it, move it (are you singing the song in your head now?). Here’s the BUT…to get Canadian Citizenship, the boys need a picture I.D. (picture I.D. for a preschooler???!), which means getting their U.S. Passports. Are you still following? It goes like this: U.S. Passport, Canadian Citizenship, Canadian Passport (and a whole lotta money in fees), done !

Ever try to get a passport picture of a preschooler? Not an easy feat. My boys are not the easiest to get pictures of to begin with. The four pictures on our Christmas card this year took about 100 takes (no exaggeration). It went something like this:

“Alright cuties, look at the camera and smile….o.k. sweet-peas, look at the camera and smile. No funny faces, please. Boys, look at the camera and smile. No. Leave your brother alone. Look at the camera and smile. Finger out of your nose, please. Look at the camera….” LOOK AT THE $#&*@!*! CAMERA AND SMILE!!! (don’t worry, this last one was not said out-loud.)

Now for the passport photos, Pierre and I were telling the boys to look at the camera and NOT smile. Huh?

Ben’s first response was, “Ok. I’ll make a funny face.” He demonstrated by sticking out his tongue.

“No buddy”. We told him. “No tongue. A serious face.” To this he knitted his brows together, and gave us a glare.

This was going to take awhile….

In the end, we got it. Ben took about ten takes (thank goodness the photographer was patient). Nicholas, miracle of miracles, got a good one on the first shot. Let’s see that happen again.

We now have enough adorable little mug shots (please, don’t let that be a glimpse of the future), for two passports and one citizenship application, each. Fees: $$$$. Patience: Gone. Dual-Citizenship: Priceless.

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Look at the camera and smile!!!

xo Naomi

P.S. Caterpillar update: All five are busy metamorphosing in their new home, surrounded by yesterday’s macaroni art.

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