this face
…is changing. Claudine will be 3 in exactly 3 weeks, which pretty much signals the end of the baby age and arguably the toddler phase as well. I wanted to take some head shots because along with shedding all things baby, her face is constantly changing, losing some of her chubby cheeks and baby fat (look at those cheeks in the photo below! I make really big, chubby babies). I wanted to remember this moment as she transitions from toddler to little girl. Soon she will be long and lean like Mia who is looking like a little lady lately. It doesn’t take long. I don’t know if you can tell from photos, but Miss C is very tall for her age and towers over most 2 year olds. Combine that with her language and fine motor skills (I haven’t talked about her freakishly precise coloring within the lines, have I?) and most people think she is older than 2. Slow down I say. I’m not having any more babies you know, and I *love* the baby stage. But Claudine has her own agenda and seems to absorb everything in order to keep up with her older sister.
Now I must confess, I also took these photos because every time that damn Gap casting call comes around every year I’m tempted to enter the kids. I’ll go to the site and look at the entry form and go back to look again. One year the Gap actually held auditions in my neighborhood. I thought about taking the kids. For a minute. But in the end, I think I’m happy to keep Miss C all to myself.
great headshots! you always take such lovely images of your girls.
Hooray for chubby babies! I think they were meant to be like that.
Claudine has changed remarkably in the few short weeks that I’ve been reading your blog, I think!
She is absolutely beautiful. I can’t get enough of the pictures.
CUTIE BUTTON! I love my little niece-y.
With the hair slicked back and the very interesting expressions, she looks like a different person. Very beautiful. Glad you got those shots when you did.
woaa…. is she really 3????
congratulations miss C, 3 is rock !
such a great blog, love your photos and storys
Claudine is so adorable AND beautiful. (So is Mia!) Great photos and such a lovely post.
she’s adorably beautiful!
I know what you are talking about. I´ve already passed through this with my boy and soon I will pass it again with my youngest child (my little girl is turning 2 this Sunday). Sometimes I would like to “freeze” them in this toddler age just to keep squeezing their cheeks
.
Goodness, she is BEAUTIFUL!
She’d be perfect for the Gap–she may be the cutest kid I’ve ever seen!
They would make excellent Gap models. Claudine is perfect for Baby Gap! Amazing AMAZING headshots, what gorgeous children you are blessed with! :]
My children are also of a mixed heritage and my son, who is 3, looks a little like Claudine. Not that Claudine looks like a boy, but quite the opposite. It’s my son who has a bit of a girlish look about him with the big eyes and full lips. And it doesn’t help that I like to keep his hair on the longish side. Both your children are gorgeous!
She is such a sweet sweet girl. Happy early birthday lil C! One day we’ll meet up and you can teach all of your tricks to my little one. Jenna, Wayne wanted to enter Kendall into modeling and such but I’m not a fan. Like you, I want to keep them to myself.
Dang, those eyelashes! She is a little cherub.
Speechless! She’s so precious. The years between three and five are some of the sweetest and more rewarding of your time with kids at home….old enough to play by themselves, old enough to watch cartoons on a Saturday morning and let Mom and Dad snooze a little bit longer, young enough to be totally innocent and extremely snuggly.What a fun ride for all of you!
AWWW! Love those cheeks staring at them made me smile!!
She is simply adorable and beautiful. Great headshots.
Adele
She’s so pretty! Happy birthday little lady =)
your little girl is stunning, what beautiful eyelashes and such a sweet smile
seeing her baby photos remind me so much of my little ella – she’s 21 months, losing her chubby cheeks already and is well and truly a toddler {she’s got the attitude down perfectly!} – watching these changes make me want to photograph everything about her so i can remember just how little and chubby and funny she was…
Claudine is an exceptionally beautiful little girl and i could easily see her as the face of baby GAP.
However, i like your decision to keep her beauty rather private for the time being. Since she is a smart and mature kid, there’s always the option to ask her if she would like to model clothes. If she is curious about posing for other photographers than you, give it a shot. Maybe she (and Mia!) could model for Ismodern or the likes rather than being part of the zoo that is the annual GAP casting call?
She’s a beautiful little girl! Yes, I said girl (not baby!). How does that happen? My little girl is growing up too. . .she’s 4 going on 14. She’s quite the precocious one too! Come check us out on our blog sometime! =D
Hi Jenna, We think you and Mark have the cutest kids ever! So I have noticed over time that Miss C’s cheeks are not as chubby as they were in the time we’ve been reading your blog….we were quite envious of those cheeks. Our baby’s cheeks disappeared already and she only just turned one! It’s a great idea to take a lot of these headshots now, but Miss C is lucky in that she’ll always have those precious lips and beautiful eyelashes. Those will always be there! I guess that she probably doesn’t want those cheeks when she’s bigger anyhow…..
She’s something special . . . you should take her to the Gap! I fell into child modeling through a neighbor who needed extras for his commercial (I live in LA, where everyone’s in the business, it seems) and did it for a few years only. I had a great time- to me, it just seemed like playing. I got to meet Senators Boxer and Feinstein andMia Hamm (my idol), play with lambs and kittens, and scarf candy from the craft services cart. I didn’t want to got to the next level and act, so I stopped when I was about 8. Great memories, but here’s the best part: it paid for my ENTIRE college education. Living expenses included. I say go for the Gap auditions, and if she likes it that’s great, and if she doesn’t then no harm done.
This post breaks my heart a little. My little one (who, by the way, bears a striking resemblance to Claudine – she saw a picture of Claudine while I was reading your blog one day and said “That’s me! I don’t remember that!”) turned 3 a few months ago. It’s hard to get used to and it happens sooo fast. Yes, I can tell that she is very tall – I thought that after your last post. By the way, she looks like Audrey Tatou in that top photo. Both your girls are just beautiful!
Precious! And I know exactly what you mean. I want to freeze time and keep them sweet and little forever. My youngest just turned two, so I am a year behind you, but it’s flying!
These shots make me melt! Perfect captures.
your daughter is beautiful. what precious photos. i could easily see her as a gap model!
Ahhh! miss C, we luv u! You are our baby-crush, ya know? Pudgy and girly as heck. Ahhh!
i love the photos! she’ll make a beautiful & adorable gap model!
I don’t even know her and I can tell she is changing. (Sad but true.) She is a natural for a GAP ad–take both girls, they would be smashing!!! (Hey, college tuition is just around the corner!!) Give it a try, what do you have to lose?? They are each so beautiful in their own way. Go for it!!!!
The more I think about it, the more I really like the idea of Mia going, too, if you go at all. She’s such a NATURAL for the camera.
Of course she’s beautiful, she’s my second GRAND NIECE. As for the photographs, how can you go wrong when they are so good looking.
It runs in the family. :-}
Good job!!! Cant wait to see them.
Your girls are just achingly beautiful. They really make me wish for grandbabies!
It’s fun watching their adventures.
such a cutie-pie! i love these portraits.
she’s the cutest, becoming a real girl. Love the pictures you made.
she is so cute ! I can just hug her and kiss her cheek
Oh what a sweet little girl. I too have the baby with the super squeezable cheeks. She is kind of outgrowing them at 11 months, but people can’t keep their hands off of them and I can’t stop kissing them. Baby girls are so sweet! Thanks for sharing yours!
I hate to be Debbie Downer, but take a look at the front page article in today’s New York Times about the problems people are having when they post photos of their kids online. Your kids are SOOO adorable, perhaps you should (I don;t even know whether it is possible online) put something like a watermark on the photos you post so that noone can appropriate them and use them for shady purposes. It is sometimes such an icky world out there…I know, I know I AM Debbie Downer.
Mindy, you are not a debbie downer. Something we all need to think about.
Oh enter them in the contest, surely you’d win. Lovely, lovely girls!!!
Jenna, Claudine is BEAUTIFUL (those lips! those eyes!) and would be sooo cute as a Gap kid. And she’s used to taking pictures too! I think beauty like that should be shared =)