Silhouettes

There's this small window...the window when your child still looks like a baby, but has some amazing kid qualities.  This window that shows pieces of their time as an infant, yet shows a glimpse into the future and what their personality and features will be when they are 'big'. 

I've looked through this window with Parker - it's a wonderful moment in time when your baby still wants to be held, snuggled, loved on, and rocked, but yet, he wants to do it all himself.  It's that moment in time when they have chubby cheeks, but those cheeks are slowly becoming more defined.  Their bellies still bulge with cute little buttons, but the outline of muscles are starting to form.  This window is short- lived and sometimes hard to find, but when it's there, it's the most precious time for a Momma. 

I think about this window so often.  About how Andrew is living in this window right now.  How I want to grasp a hold of this window and not let it slip away.  I want to be in this moment forever.  But, I know Andrew will grow, just like Parker (no matter how many times I tell them not to), into the big boy he's going to become.

I needed to come up with a way to capture this time in their lives.  Some way that would capture their uniqueness and their features...their personalities.  This had to be something that would mean something to me....although it may not show these things to others.  I needed a way to hold onto the in-between time, the time when my boys are still little, tender souls, but yet have the characteristics that make them the boys they are.

So, I thought and I thought and I thought and I decided to make something.  I had to search for the perfect photograph to make this possible.  And, in the end, I found the perfect pictures, and the perfect idea to capture exactly what I wanted.  I made silhouettes.

I am in love with these two profiles. 

Andrew

Look at your chubby cheeks and the way you have your head tilted downward.  I can picture your face, your thick, blond, curly hair, and your double chin.  I can see your eyes aimed downward and your shy smile.  When Parker saw this he said: 'Mom, why is Andrew's head bigger than mine?'  Oh man, do I love my Andrew's hair.  It is big and blond and so tender.  It's just right.  Just the window in time I was looking for.  I captured it.  Right here.

Parker

I found a photo of you from when you were two years old.  You had a grin, your eyes where glowing in fun, your hair, unlike Andrew's, was thinner, but still thicker than any other boy I knew at the time.  Your silly personality shows in your profile and the way you hold your head up shows your confidence...even at the age of two.  I love this one.  I caught it...I was able to hang onto this moment in your life.

 

I made these silhouettes without much of a plan, but they've turned out to be my favorite keepsake.  I know these two boys.  Inside and out.  And, I am so happy to have found a perfect way to capture them at this special time in their lives.  If you haven't done this with your kiddos...I encourage it.  Before the moment slips away.

There are many ways to make a silhouette, but the easiest way for me to do it (with two little boys who won't sit still for photos) was to find a photo I already had of their profiles, order it in a 5 by 7 photo, tape the photo to a black sheet of construction paper, and then cut the profile out of the picture.  I wasn't sure how this would work out, but it worked perfectly for me.

 

I am so proud of these silhouettes - not because I made them myself - but, because of the meaning they hold.  The little boys they've captured.  I love them.