Jake is 3!

Jennifer DiDio Photography blog followers probably recognize these baby blues in Gina’s little Angel Whisperer!  We met Jake when he was 1 1/2 on his family portrait session, then we saw him to celebrate his 2nd birthday and now he’s back for his 3 year old portrait session.  Without a doubt one of the coolest parts of linking arms with so many families through portraiture, is I get to see the amazing transformations children go through. 

When I first met Jake he was wide eyed in wonder and too busy exploring to be concerned about portraits.  Family portrait sessions with toddler boys are really built around wherever the toddler goes.  I remember thinking how cool it was that his big brother & sister, Alex & Sophia, were so patient and accommodating to keep encouraging Jake towards where the goal was for the portraits.  They never showed signs of frustration or exasperation with Jake.  Instead they cajoled him and sang to him…probably one of the reasons he loves to sing today.  

Fast forward 1 1/2 years later and the sneak peeks of the young man this little boy will become are starting to emerge.  He’s taken on his dad’s love of baseball and cracked me up doing his strong man impersonations.   He was excited for his portraits and came ready to bring it!  He has connected with the fact that what he does with me is what he sees regularly in his home on the walls, on the digital frame and on mom’s phone.   

Holy smokes below—can’t you just see this 10 years from now!  🙂 and 🙁 

Gina told me how Jake asks to look at the photo collections on her phone
all the time.   Sophia told me how Jake asked her to carry him over to
the portraits on the wall where the whole family was looking at him and
laughing.  He says, ‘that’s when everybody liked Jake.”  He must know he
was cracking everyone up!     

 “I will kiss you…then I will wrestle you!”

So I know this is sappy, but check out how Jake is holding onto his big toe…little details in the life of a little boy…those kinds of things disappear from our mannerisms as we get older, which is why it is so important to capture them.  Gina realizes how fleeting this time is and told me she wanted to capture Jake’s sweet little face at such a stinking cute age.   Jacob Anthony makes his family laugh every day and Gina wanted this preserved to look back on when she and Erik are old and grey in their rockers saying, ‘remember when…remember when…’

Blog followers may remember Jake’s 2nd birthday portraits in which Gina called him her “angel whisperer” as she walked through her battle with colon cancer.  Today Gina is cancer free and treating each day as the gift that she realizes it is.  She’s not taking one moment for granted! 

I learned from Gina that Erik told her, ‘I’m going grubby so Jennifer won’t make me be in any of the portraits.’  You had to know I wasn’t going to let you go without some small token of that father son bond that is so precious!  

This photo will remind you that Jake, at age 3, sometimes confused his “b” and “f” sounds when he’s talking about “Bucking Longhorns.”   And he wonders why people find that such a big deal!  

Gina texted me after Erik and Jake left to say that Jake told Erik he wanted to go back to play at Ms. Jennifer’s tomorrow—this is not your grandmother’s stuffy portrait studio!  We closed our time with Jake picking flowers for Momma he handed up to show me….so when you see this Gina, know your Angel Whisperer is handing you his love in a flower…