So back in the middle of May, we signed a contract with The CLEKidz Model & Talent Group for both of the boys. And since then, we've basically been sitting around and waiting. And waiting. And waiting. I'm not a completely patient person, especially when I started seeing other kids that got signed at the same time as the boys being hired for jobs at Zulily and Carter's/Osh Kosh. I will be the first to admit that a little bit of jealously started creeping in - why didn't they want MY kids?? But I kept reminding myself that it's seriously only been a month and we've got a one-year contract and their chance would come eventually. Patience, my dear.
Well, our time finally came. And by finally, it's only been about six weeks since we signed, so "finally" actually happened pretty quickly - I keep reminding myself that some of the kids may never get a call and it's nothing against the kids - it's just that they don't exactly fit what the clients are looking for and that's no one's fault. Wednesday afternoon I got an email from the agency saying that Step 2 wanted to use B for a photo shoot. I think I went into a mild panic attack. Step 2 is a quick drive east on the interstate that we literally live right next to, so it's a convenient place to start. I quickly emailed the agency back and told them to book it, and shortly after that I got an email with all of the details that we would need for the shoot - date, time, directions, extensive wardrobe request, etc. His shoot was going to be for a new kitchen play set, so they wanted lots of options to choose from including pants, long sleeved shirts, polos, t-shirts and shoes. Basically bring along his entire wardrobe with the exception of shorts and anything with big logos on it. So I spent a good hour Thursday night ironing most of his wardrobe. Lots of little tiny pieces of clothing that otherwise never see an iron ....
This morning we got up, I gave B a bath, dressed him up in a nice polo shirt and jeans,and headed out the door to Step 2. I seriously thought I was going to throw up, but B eased my mind about 15 minutes before we arrived when Uptown Funk came on the radio and he started dancing in his car seat in the back seat. We got there about 15 minutes early, and when we walked in the door we were greeted by the very friendly staff that works there and shown where the playroom was so he could get acclimated. They were still setting up, and there were two other kids there that were scheduled ahead of him. They went through his wardrobe, picked out an outfit that they thought would work best with the play set and backdrop, and they got to work with the other two kids. They told me that they would probably overlap them - when one of the other two started getting fussy, they would probably swap B in for that one so they could keep things moving. They were quite active, and I was worried that B wouldn't do very well in comparison. But on the other hand, they were a little hard to keep focused on the set. They worked with the other kids for about 15 minutes, but instead of swapping B in, they sent the other kids home and B got a photo shoot all to himself. And I couldn't have been more proud of how he handled it. He was such a trooper. He was very mellow, followed instructions and did what they asked him to do, and when they needed a little bit more from him (like um ... a smile instead of being so darned serious like he always is), he even let one of the staff pick him up and swing him through the air like an airplane so they could get him to giggle and smile for a quick shot. By the end of the shoot, he was giving high fives and fist bumps. And they all just kept commenting about how calm he is and how well he was doing. One of the guys working there told me that if this is what he's like to work with, we can pretty much plan on getting a call every couple of months to bring him in for projects. That was an exciting thing to hear.
So our first venture in the toddler modeling industry went very well as far as I can tell. The new play set is due to be released probably in November, just in time for the holiday shopping season. The photos could end up being used for just about anything - their web site, product ads, packaging, who knows - and the set will be released primarily to Toys R Us but will be sold at pretty much every major retailer that carries their line. I can't exactly wrap my mind around the fact that my child has now done a photo shoot for Step 2 and who knows where I'll be seeing him pop up. But in the meantime, I'm just going to be proud of my baby and how he handled himself today and wait for our next opportunity to pop up. And when November rolls around and your out toy shopping, you just might see my kid on the box of their latest kitchen play set :-).
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