He says "cheese!"

When I photograph other people's kids I never ask them to say "cheese!" It almost always results in - well, a cheesy fake smile! Instead I will try to get them to laugh by making weird noises making a fool out of myself, or tickling them or something. Often I will tell them that I don't like smiles and that I want them to make the meanest face they can, or be really serious. That almost always does the trick. They think it is really funny and they laugh, and give natural smiles while trying to be mean or serious.

Emerick is different. Nothing works when I try to take his photo. He gets a blank stare, and looks away from the camera or just runs away. A couple of weeks ago when I decided to try and get some happy photos of him for his 18 month birthday, I became desperate. I made a cheesy smile and asked him to say "cheese!" He copied me, and I got tons of fake cheesy smiles while he was looking at the camera, but he didn't actually say "cheese" until several days later, when I had my camera in front of my face just taking some snapshots of him playing. He looked over at me, gave me a big cheesy smile and started saying "cheese!!" over and over again while giggling. He now says "cheese!" every time he sees the camera!

I don't mind Emerick's fake cheesy smile one bit, I will take it!