signs of neglect

A few weeks ago we had an amazing rainbow. K and S climbed to the top of the playset to get a better view and I handed K the camera to take a picture.

This is what he captured:

He apparently waited too long.

My friend, Christie, got a slightly better shot you can see here.

The boys climbed down, we went inside, ate dinner, etc. A few days later I can't find my camera anywhere. Then as I'm standing in my kitchen I glance out at the playset and I see a small grey something in the crow's nest. My camera. Four days outside in the rain. Lots and lots of rain. A day inside drying, and we were getting pictures like this:

I call this shot Wet Stupidity.

Feel free to print it out and hang it on your wall as a reminder and a warning.

But a few more days and it seemed to be working like it's old self. Only not quite. It's like the flash doesn't work just the same way, and we're getting a lot of blur now. So now I capture reminders, over and over, of why not to let your six-year old take your camera out in the rain.

And then there's this baby.

See him? Cute, but kind of gross, I know. Someone (maybe me) gave him an Oreo (but only half. I'm kind of a health nut) and walked away. This is what he looked like when his dad found him. So his dad took some pictures (with the blur-loving camera) handed him the other half of the Oreo and he, too, walked away.

It quickly got to the point where we both just stared at him, neither one of us daring to go near, especially not to actually touch him. But there's only so long you can neglect a child, unlike a camera, before they start to screech. This baby screeches especially well.

This one is called Post Oreo Euphoria.

I wouldn't print it out, it's gross.

So, moral: kids make messes of both cameras and themselves, and should never be trusted with electronics or cookies. But they are good to keep around to blame stuff on.