When this little one came in for his newborn session, his nanny had made a whole collection of hand-knitted toys and we photographed him with all of them. A few weeks old, wrapped in red, fast asleep next to a little knitted footballer on a deep green backdrop. It was a really lovely set of images.
Five months later, he was back. And of the whole collection, the footballer had become his clear favourite. So out he came again.
The difference five months makes is just remarkable. From a sleepy newborn curled up beside his toy, to a wide-eyed, upright, very-much-awake baby sitting in the little cream chair with the footballer wedged in front of him like he was keeping it safe. Same toy. Completely different baby.
This is one of the things I always mention to parents when they’re thinking about what to bring to a session – a favourite toy, a special keepsake, something handmade. It becomes a way of tracking the changes that are otherwise quite hard to hold onto. You can see exactly how much your baby has grown when you’ve got the same object in both photos.
Handmade by nanny, loved by a five-month-old, and now part of two sets of photographs he’ll have forever. That’s a pretty good result for a knitted footballer.
