I hope this is just a phase

I took M to Picture People this week. Yes, we did pictures recently at Sears but I had to use up my Portrait Club membership before it expired this week, which meant getting a free 8x10 and $10 off my order.
As I figured, M was going to be M during the session: independent and stubborn as a mule.
We arrived well before our appointment, with the hope of getting her used to the studio and all.
She was fine when the photographer came to introduce herself and even went into the studio room and sat on a small car they had as a prop.
We put the prop in the middle of the back drop and from there, M was M. She refused to look at the photographer, no matter our efforts.
The photographer got a side profile of M, where you can see her little smirky smile. She was being deliberate in her actions, the little stink!
I finally went behind the photographer and that was enough to get one good smile out of M.
After that though, nothing seemed to work. She decided she was done and would not step foot on the backdrop, even with new props, toys and S to help out. We tried and tried. She had no problems talking and smiling...all off camera! If you tried to get her on the backdrop though.....Oh, boy!
So I decided to call it. It just wasn't working any more and I was happy that a couple shots turned out. It would make my decision making easier.
We told M we were done, at which point she was playing on the car again....off shot, of course! I asked the girls to help me clean up. M put the little car away and then I asked her to get the rocking chair, a prop I had placed on the backdrop in an effort to get more pictures of her.
Well, she had no problems stepping foot on the backdrop then, during which the photographer decided to try to get some shots. The look she got from M! But it felt like we were on to something because then the photographer thought to try the clean up game with a bear on the backdrop.
Next thing you know we're trying to find anything we can to get her to clean up. She put the bear away and I threw another stuffed animal on the backdrop. Snap! Snap! Snap!
Then it was some toys like blocks one moment and puzzle pieces another. Snap! Snap! Snap!
She didn't seem to mind. It was a game to her.
The photographer decided to then scatter some flowers around for M to pick up. Snap! Snap! Snap!
FINALLY, after all that work, we got a few more shots, including my all-time favorite: she is crouched down, a couple flowers in her hand, the rest scattered across her like a flower covered meadow. It is a sweet picture that will be framed and put in her bedroom. Not only for its beauty but as a reminder that even though she can provide some whoppers of a headache, she can be a sweet, loving girl.....when she wants to be!
I really have to give credit to the photographer for being so patient. I think our session was 45 minutes, at least! It felt like a lifetime.
She asked if M had always been shy. Shy? M? No, no. She is just being a stubborn little thing. I don't understand her latest aversion to getting her picture taken. Or to a lot of other little quirks she has exhibited. But I really hope it is all a phase!